3 chilled soup recipes from my new gig in Fiji

When it’s warm and sunny at Vomo Island Resort in Fiji (my new gig, http://www.vomofiji.com), we sometimes change lunch venues. Instead of the sheltered wooden deck of our poolside restaurant “Beyond the Reef”, we host lunch right on the beach or at the Rocks Bar on the far end of the island.

Lunch on the main beach of Vomo Island Resort

A private lunch at the Rocks Bar at Vomo Island Resort facing Vomo Lailai (Little Vomo)

Both these venues are sunny, warm and open to the elements.  What better way to start a lunch on the island than with a refreshing chilled soup? Here are the recipes for 3 that I’ve tried since starting a couple of weeks ago. These chilled soups together with cool, crisp salads; lighter grilled fare featuring local caught fish; light sandwiches and wraps; a dessert of the day, fresh fruit and house made ice creams and sorbets make up what we’ve served at Vomo Island’s daily changing lunch menu lately.

Image by Kelly Bradley, http://www.bradleywellness.blogspot.com.au

CREAMY CARROT AVOCADO AND GINGER SOUP

Ingredients

3 cups carrot juice

1 small ripe avocado

½ cup lime juice

2 T guava puree

1 T chopped ginger

Pinch of cayenne pepper

¼ tsp sea salt

Procedure

1. Blend together until smooth and creamy.

Image by iEVA, http://www.gourmantineblog.com

CHILLED BEET ROOT, CUCUMBER AND YOGHURT SOUP

Ingredients

2 cups, diced roasted beetroot*

1 cup English cucumber, sliced

½ small onion, sliced

4 cups plain yoghurt

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Before starting, make sure that all ingredients are cold. Combine all ingredients (except those for garnish) in a blender and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Serve in chilled bowls topped with hard-boiled egg slices, diced cucumber, yoghurt and fresh herbs such as dill, parsley or chives.

*To roast beets: scrub whole beets and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place beets on a piece of foil, loosely wrap, and roast in a slow oven (140 degrees c) for about an hour or until the beets are soft. Allow to cool in the foil packet. When cool, rub off the skin with a paper towel to peel the beets then dice for the soup.

Garnish

Hard-boiled egg, diced cucumber, yoghurt, fresh dill/parsley or chives

Image by Becky Lawton, http://www.delicooks.com

GAZPACHO VERDE (GREEN GAZPACHO)

Ingredients

2 cups honeydew melon, diced

2 cups English cucumber, unpeeled, diced

2 cups ripe avocado, diced

½ cup green capsicum, diced

½ cup white onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tablespoons flat parsley, chopped

1 cup white bread cubes (no crust), diced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

water

Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure

1. Combine everything and allow to marinate for an hour.
2. Blend and adjust the consistency with water.
3. Season to taste.
4. Serve very cold.

Garnish

Croutons, diced green vegetables, chopped parsley and/or extra virgin olive oil

Holiday Cooking on Instagram

I’ve taken to posting recipes on Instagram. Follow me @erjoven.

Here’s some pictures of the Noche Buena meal I made last December 24. The first Christmas I’ve had home since 2001. Filipinos celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, December 24, rather than the 25th. Usually there are 2 meals: a dinner at home, then a late night Catholic Mass is heard, then all come back home to open gifts and partake in another meal, the “Noche Buena”. For us this year we had 1 meal which was dinner (which I’ll refer to as our “Noche Buena” on this post), then we opened gifts and called it a night. Camille and Julian had an early flight to Japan on Christmas Day so our night had to end early.

We started the meal with a tray of assorted dips, almonds and olives and some crisp baguette. Clockwise from top: “dulong” (called “tritri fish” in St. Vincent) or tiny anchovies cooked in olive oil and garlic, Romesco sauce, eggplant caviar, green olives, pesto and in the center, spiced almonds. Camille loves these dips and sauces so she had some packed in deli containers for her trip to Japan the next day.

I posted a picture of our main course on Instagram with the following recipe and caption:

Breaking away from the traditional roasted poultry, ham or meat dishes of the Filipino Christmas Eve dinner (Noche Buena), the centerpiece of our table was a Whole Roasted Local Red Snapper with Chorizo, Caramelized Onions and Baby Potatoes.

To make: rub the inside and out of a whole, cleaned red snapper (this was around 3+ kg) with salt, pepper, lemon juice and Spanish paprika. Fill the cavity with rosemary, onion, garlic, sliced lemons (local yellow lemons in the Philippines are like Meyer lemons!) and parsley. Score the fish on each side and fill the cuts with crumbled chorizo sausage – I used Calidad Espanola Pamplona chorizo. Combine parboiled baby potatoes, caramelized onions, sautéed garlic, chorizo cut into 1-inch pieces, and chopped parsley, and place this mixture on the bottom of a large baking dish. Place the fish on top, season with salt and pepper and drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over the fish and potatoes. Roast in a hot oven for about 50 minutes to an hour (less if using a smaller fish) or until the fish barely flakes off the center bone. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with lemon wedges, making sure each diner gets a piece of the fish, chorizo, potatoes and the natural roasting juices in the pan. #calidadespanola #nochebuena #redsnapper #philippineseafood

p.s. I love how my brother Julian’s toys always find their way close to the food I’m making. Thankfully, never in it!

p.p.s. Next place I work in gets this dish on their menu!

Mylah took a picture of her serving of fish.

I may not like conforming to most traditions, but I do follow some. Baked ham is a feature in many a Filipino Noche Buena, so I made this one using the ham given to our family as a gift by Mylah’s partner, Nick. This succulent ham was slow roasted with orange juice and honey.

We we love pasta at home so I cooked some for mixing with the pesto or Romesco sauces. If my Italian former sous chef saw this he’d say the pasta is overcooked… Or the kind they serve to old people and children in Italy. Still, we loved it…

The dessert spread was decadent to say the least.

The Instagram post and recipe attached to this photo is as follows

Desserts for the Noche Buena table last December 24: Caribbean Rum Cake drizzled with Malagos dark chocolate, Calamansi Mousse with Caramel Sauce, a cheese board with dried mangoes, grapes and kiat-kiat oranges.

The calamansi mouse was a pleasure to make. She may not remember it, but it’s @cheeky_tsinay (Dawn Yu-Aquino)’s recipe from back in college when we were cooking in chef competitions for UP. I loved this recipe and used to make it all the time back then. The last time I made this was 12 years ago … Also the last time I was home for Christmas.

To make the mousse: Soften one envelope unflavored gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water. Combine 3 egg yolks, three whole eggs, 1/2 cup fresh calamansi juice, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon finely grated and blanched calamansi zest and the softened gelatine in a large bowl over a double boiler. Whisk until thick and fluffy but still quite fluid (the “ribbon stage” in chef speak). Place the bowl on top of another bowl with ice to cool the mixture down. In a separate clean bowl, beat the 3 egg whites with 2 tablespoons white sugar until thick and fluffy like a meringue. In another bowl, beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 2 tablespoons white sugar. Before combining everything together check that you have 3 things ready: the cooled egg yolk and calamansi base, the whipped egg whites and the whipped cream. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold half the egg whites and half the whipped cream into the calamansi mixture. Keep in mind that gentle folding will ensure maximum aeration and a fluffy light texture of the dessert. Then fold the rest of the egg whites and cream, making sure that everything is combined and that there are no white streaks. Spoon the mixture into cups or glasses and allow to set in the refrigerator. Once set, top each mouse with sweetened whipped cream and serve with the caramel sauce. To make a simple caramel sauce: heat 2 cups white sugar in a heavy pan until melted and the color is a dark amber. Be careful not to burn it and be careful not to burn yourself as this sugar is “as hot as lava” (my mom used to say). Once caramelized, add 1 cup cold water and whisk until all the caramelized sugar has melted back into a sauce. #holidaydesserts #homemadetreats #calamansimousse #calamansi

Here are all the siblings in our wacky pose.

Gift giving came after dinner. Marco, my nephew, wanted to eat his gift. As for me, I got a nice cleaver … Only a chef, in my opinion, would think that was a nice gift.

It’s been a long 12 years since I’ve been back at this same table for Noche Buena with my family. I’m glad and grateful for this time off!

Romesco sauce recipe

I’ve been seeing and making different versions of this sauce for the past 10 years. Finally, I found the perfect recipe (I forgot the name of the book … no lawsuits please), tweaked it and this is the one I use at work. My friend Dawn has asked me for recipes and suggestions on what to make for Christmas gifts this year. I told her to give them romesco sauce with a list of all the things you could do with it. A side dish to one of our specials last night was roasted fingerling potatoes tossed in romesco, and it’s on our menu as a marinade and sauce for lamb. Roast chicken, grilled shrimp, fried calamari, a dressing for pasta salad … lot’s of uses! This is my new Mang Tomas (lol – only Filipinos will get that comment)! Thanks Keenan Fifield (Peter Island’s Marina Manager) for the pictures of roasted vegetables and sea bass glazed in romesco sauce.

Romesco Sauce
Yield: 3 cups

Ingredients:
3 large plum tomatoes
2 large red bell peppers
1 medium onion (unpeeled)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 dried ancho chile*
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
1 slice wheat bread, toasted, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss tomatoes, bell peppers, and onion in small baking dish with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast until partially charred, turning every 15 minutes, about 45 minutes. Cover with foil; let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. Add chile; fry until darkened and slightly puffed, turning once, about 30 seconds. Transfer to small bowl. Add enough hot water to cover. Let stand 30 minutes. Peel and seed ancho chile, tomatoes, and bell peppers; place in blender. Peel onion; coarsely chop and add to blender.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. Add almonds; sauté until lightly toasted, about 1 minute. Transfer to blender. Add 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, vinegar, bread, and paprika to blender; blend to coarse puree. Return pureed mixture to the pan and over low heat simmer slowly until the olive oil starts to come out.  Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

*No ancho chiles? Use pepper flakes.

Whole grilled snapper with green olive and lemon relish

I’ve been using this green olive and lemon relish a lot ever since I came across a version of it in Judy Rodger’s Zuni cafe Cookbook. It turns out to be a useful, flavorful relish that goes with a lot of seafood dishes. A few weeks ago, I used it on an appetizer with grilled scallop and asparagus. Last night it was paired with a whole grilled snapper – a tasty, local catch. The fish was stuffed with sliced lemon, local thyme and celery leaves, brushed with olive oil and grilled. Here’s the recipe:

Grilled Whole Snapper with Green Olive and Lemon Relish

Serves 4

For the snapper:

2 whole snapper cleaned (about a pound each)

2 lemons, 1 sliced, 1 cut in half for juice

sprigs of thyme

celery leaves

olive oil (regular extra virgin olive oil)

salt and pepper

lemon “cheeks” (seed-free! … as opposed to wedges)

a good “finishing” extra virgin olive oil*

green olive and lemon relish

For the relish:

1/2 cup green olives (picholine or Spanish green olives), pitted and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped

3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped

1/2 lemon, seeds discarded, thinly sliced then roughly chopped

1 tablespoon parsley, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

1. Preheat the grill and prepare the fish.  Squeeze lemon juice all over the snapper. Season with salt and pepper both inside the cavity and on the outer surface.

2. Stuff the fish cavity with the lemon slices, thyme sprigs and celery leaves. Score the fish 2-3 times on each side. Drizzle olive oil all over the fish.

3. Grease the hot grill with oil (make sure it is very hot or else the fish skin will stick to it). Cook the fish on the grill about 4 minutes on each side. The fish is cooked when it easily flakes off the center bone … but for snapper, cook it before it reaches this point on the grill. Tricky … but the more you cook, the easier it gets.

4. Serve the fish hot on a platter garnished with celery leaves and lemon cheeks. Drizzle the fish generously with the finishing olive oil. Serve the relish on the side in a separate bowl.

5. For the relish: combine all ingredients in a bowl. Allow to sit for at least an hour before using. Store unused relish in a glass jar in the fridge – it tastes even better after a few days. Let the relish come to room temperature before serving.

*I’ve often worked in places that use 2 kinds of olive oils – a generic, cheaper version for everyday cooking and an expensive “finishing” olive oil usually the first press from olives at a single source. These oils are drizzled on top of cooked foods for extra flavor, and are never heated because heat would destroy the flavor.