MELT DOWN!

A lightening strike took out my computer and router! I got a new router for Wi-Fi connect and I've resurrected an old, old computer, just in time for a weekly blog post. (A week of trying to work on a smartphone has exhausted me!) But I need to decide what's next. Replace the motherboard of the damaged PC or buy a new computer? 

Although we had a power cut, no other appliances were damaged. Nevertheless, I decided to cook off some of the contents of the freezer--three packets of monkfish heads and bones. Cooler weather makes soup an appetizing possibility now. And, a cache of almonds made me think of sopa de rape, monkfish soup.

A creamy seafood bisque thickened with almonds.

This version is a creamy “bisque.” It’s a bisque with no butter or cream, however. Ground almonds and bread thicken the flavorful stock that is made from fish heads and bones. (The traditional recipe for monkfish soup is here )

There is a surprising amount of flesh on the monkfish carapace. The frugal cook would pick it off the bones and incorporate it in the soup. If you don’t want to bother with that step, just add chunks of raw fish to the soup. Shrimp heads and shells add depth of flavor to the stock. If not available, just eliminate that step.

The almond sauce that thickens the soup can also be served on its own as a sauce for simple grilled fish. It’s rather like ajo blanco, white gazpacho, except that the ingredients are fried in oil instead of being incorporated raw.

Almond skins slip off.

To blanch and skin almonds: Add the almonds to boiling water. When water returns to a boil, cook 30 seconds. Drain. When almonds are cool enough to handle, but still warm, pinch off the skin at the pointy end and slip off the skin.

 Seafood Bisque with Almonds
Crema de Pescado con Almendras

Almonds thicken the bisque. Saffron gives a golden hue.

 Serves 4 to 6.

For the fish stock

3-4 pounds monkfish heads and trimmings
8 ounces whole small shrimp, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
10 cups water
1 slice lemon
Parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 leek
2 teaspoons salt

Fish heads and tails for stock.

Hack the fish heads into pieces that will fit in a large soup pot. Peel the shrimp, saving the heads and shells for the stock and refrigerating the peeled shrimp to add to the finished soup.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the shrimp heads and shells and sauté on high heat until they begin to brown. Add the water, lemon, parsley, bay, leek and salt. Bring to a boil. Add the monkfish heads and trimmings and cook 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Skim out the fish heads and bones and let them cool.

Picked from the bones.

When the bones are cool enough to handle, pick off flesh and reserve it. Return the bones to the pot with shrimp heads. Bring again to a boil and simmer 30 minutes.

Pour the stock through a sieve. Discard the bones and shrimp shells.

The stock can be prepared several days in advance. After cooling, store it, tightly covered, in the refrigerator. When ready to finish the soup, heat the stock gently.

For the almond sauce and sofrito
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 slices bread (3 ounces), crusts removed
4 cloves garlic
1 cup blanched and skinned almonds
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
2 cups fish stock
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped green peppers
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon aguardiente (anisette liqueur) or Sherry
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Fry bread, almonds, garlic.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet and fry the bread, 3 cloves of the garlic and the almonds until they are golden. Skim out, leaving any oil remaining.

In a small bowl, add ¼ of hot stock to the crushed saffron.

Place the bread, almonds, fried garlics plus 1 clove of raw garlic in a blender container. Add 1 cup of stock and allow to soak 10 minutes. Then puree the bread, garlic and almonds until smooth. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste. Blend in the saffron. Blend in remaining ¾ cup of stock.

Set the almond sauce aside until 15 minutes before finishing the soup.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Sauté the onions and green peppers 5 minutes. On a high heat, add the tomatoes. Stir in the aguardiente, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook, covered, until vegetables are soft, 12 minutes.

Puree the sofrito in a blender and sieve it. It’s ready to add to the remaining stock in the soup pot.


For the soup
Stock, approximately 6 cups
Sofrito (recipe above)
Almond sauce (recipe above)
12 ounces monkfish fillets, diced
4 ounces peeled shrimp
Any shredded fish removed from bones
2 slices bread, crusts removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped piquillo pepper or any roasted red pepper
1 tablespoon chopped hard-cooked egg
Chopped parsley

Heat remaining fish stock in pot. Add the sofrito and whisk in the almond sauce. When soup is almost boiling, add the diced monkfish. Simmer the soup 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and any flesh picked off the bones. Cook 5 minutes longer.

While soup is cooking, cut the bread into small dice. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small skillet and fry the bread until golden. Remove and reserve.

Serve the soup garnished with chopped red pepper, chopped egg, parsley and a few toasted croutons.

Garnish the soup with croutons, chopped red pepper and egg.

Saffron adds flavor and color to the bisque.

CLEANING HOUSE, FINDING STUFF, REMEMBERING PLACES

Sherry ad from an old Gourmet magazine.

Needing to clear some closet space in the spare room (which is no longer spare), I started pulling out storage boxes full of papers and sorting through 25 years worth of—stuff.

First to go—no need even to sort—were thousands of pages of cookbook manuscripts and  printers’ page proofs. I’ve written eight cookbooks (five are still in print; read about the books here). How many compressed trees was I saving here?

The most recent books went back and forth to editors digitally, via e-mail. But, ten years ago, my editor at HarperCollins-New York wanted the whole printed manuscript shipped to her. It came back to me once with the copy editor’s notes and was returned to me after publication. I also received a set of page proofs. All this went to the recycle bin.

The next couple of crates I pulled down contained, roughly speaking, “files.” In the pre-Google days, when I was researching for a book, article or travel guide, it meant writing or phoning to tourist offices and collecting travel brochures about the regions I intended to visit. Along with yet more material picked up on my travels are hundreds of maps, including dozens from little towns of La Mancha, where I spent a month or more traveling around, talking to people and collecting recipes, for COOKING FROM THE HEART OF SPAIN—FOOD OF LA MANCHA. 

I had enough travel brochures to open a tourist office. These all went to trash, though, I have to confess, I enjoyed looking through them and remembering places I’d been. Nowadays, anything I need to know, no matter how obscure, can quickly be located on the internet. But I love printed stuff.

There were also clipping files—reviews of my books; tear sheets of articles I wrote for various magazines and newspapers; articles by other writers pertinent to my subjects; printed menus from restaurants all over Spain. One file contained clippings from Gourmet magazine of articles only about Spain. I got rid of the magazines-- dating back to 1964!—but not before first cannibalizing them for “keepers.”

That picture at the top was a keeper—an ad in Gourmet from unknown year. There is also a marvelous four-page color spread, “Three Spanish Dinners,” from January 1966 (the very month I arrived in Spain), with some excellent recipes. And, a wonderful article from July 1964, “Málaga, Mi Málaga,” by Frederick S. Wildman, Jr. Málaga is “mi Málaga” also.

Here’s what Wildman (I never met him, although our paths might have crossed) wrote about the food of my region: “The food of the province of Málaga is as original as the face of its countryside.” He made note of the fruits and vegetables, almonds, olives, pork sausages, serrano ham. “But the glory of Málaga is certainly its fish.” One of his recipes is for “Sopa de Rape de Málaga.” Although poorly translated as “skate soup,” (rape, pronounced rah-pay in two syllables, is monkfish, not skate), it is a typical Málaga recipe.

Sopa de rape--monkfish soup, a Málaga specialty.

Here is my version. You could use dry Sherry, such as Tio Pepe, or white wine.

Monkfish Soup
Sopa de Rape

Whole monkfish.

Monkfish (also known as angler fish) is one of the least attractive specimens in the market, but very, very good eating. A grey color and without scales, the monkfish has a huge head and slim tail, a little like an enormous tadpole that  never got around to turning into a frog. It is easy to cut fillets off the center spine. The flesh is firm and sweet-flavored and can readily be substituted in recipes that call for lobster. Firm-fleshed, It doesn’t disintegrate when cooked in soup. Slices from the tail are very good grilled or braised with sauce.

This recipe calls for a whole fish—the head is used for making stock. If this is not possible, use any prepared fish stock and monkfish fillets. Shrimp can be added as well.

Serves 4.

1 monkfish, 3 to 4 pounds
8 cups water
Bay leaf, oregano, thyme, parsley and celery
Salt and pepper
1 onion, cut in half
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup almonds, blanched and skinned
3 cloves garlic
2-3 slices bread, crusts removed
1 sprig parsley
Pinch of saffron, crushed
¼ cup dry Sherry or white wine
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons salt


Have the angler fish cleaned and the head separated. Remove the back bone, leaving two fillets. Cut them into bite-size pieces. Cover and refrigerate.

Put the water to boil in a pot with the herbs, half of the onion and salt and pepper. Add the head, bones and any trimmings from the fish and bring again to a boil, skimming off froth that rises. Cook for 30 minutes. Strain the stock and reserve it. Pick any flesh off the head and bones and discard head and bones.

Heat the oil in a soup pot or heat-proof casserole and in it fry the almonds, peeled garlic, sliced bread and sprig of parsley, just until almonds, garlic and bread are toasted. With a skimmer, remove them to mortar, blender or mini food processor.

Chop the remaining half onion. Sauté the onion in the remaining oil. Add the tomatoes and fry for 15 minutes. (This sofrito can be used as is or puréed in a blender or passed through a sieve.)

In the mortar or blender, grind the toasted almonds, etc., with the saffron, and salt, adding the Sherry or wine to make a smooth paste. Stir this into the tomato mixture, add 6 cups of the reserved stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the pieces of monkfish and simmer another 10 minutes until fish is cooked.

Monkfish soup is thickened with ground almonds.