Tomato Soup and Beef Jello

A few weeks ago I made a big batch of bone broth. My preferred way is to use the crockpot. I let this batch simmer for 48 hours. After putting it in the fridge and letting it cool, I skimmed the fat (saved for later use) and made a bunch of individual portions and stuck them in the freezer. My kids call bone broth "beef jello". They love watching and helping me skim off the fat, and then putting the "beef jello" in ziplock bags. When your bone broth looks like "beef jello", you've been succesful in making a super nutritious broth.

Last night I made a quick tomato soup. In a saucepan bring your "beef jello" to a boil and reduce down a bit to intensify the flavor. (2.5-3 cups of broth reduced down to 2 cups, recipe for two people) Now add 4 diced roma tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes, 1/4 of a red onion and 2 cloves og garlic. Fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste. Bring to a boil.

Next I transferred the soup to the food processor and pureed it.

Toss back in the pan and add a shot of heavy cream. (just add a little first, you can always add more)

It looks like the soup is very light from the cream, but it is the poor lighting for the picture that makes it look like that. Instead of the more traditional creme fraiche, I added a small dollop of greek yogurt.

I ate 2 nice bowls of it. If you are a person that doesn't sleep well if you eat late, see if soup has a different result. I didn't get to eat till about 9pm, which is usually on the late side to eat for me. But soup doesn't have the same effect as a meal does. Warms the body nicely for sleep mode ;-)

What do you like to make with your bone broth?

Sashimi II

When you have the right ingredients, you can really make yourself  "restaurant" food at home.

I made some more sashimi for lunch today. A quick visit to the Asian market to pick up a few supplies and I was ready. Since I'm mentioning the Asian market, go find yours where you live, you will enjoy it. They are very affordable and once you've shown up there a few times, the shop keepers won't ignore you anymore ;-) It is also a great place to buy unique and cheap produce. I picked up a very large Daikon, scallions and some small fiery fresh peppers.The Daikon has a much better and stronger flavor then the ones I get at the supermarket. Also picked up some good wasabi. One word of caution, asian products liberally use MSG, food coloring, HFCS, and other ingredients you might want to avoid, but they also carry products that DON'T have them, so shop carefully and read labels.

Here some more ankimo. I grated daikon and tossed a few scallions on it. Laid the slices of monk fish liver on top and drizzled with some ponzu sauce and a few more scallions.
The daikon with the ponzu sauce is a tremendous pairing.

I used to eat this little dish below at a very special japanese restaurant in New York. It was a true authentic sushi restaurant where no cooked food was served. It had authentic Japanese protocol, they did not take reservations and they were known for turning customers away when there were many open tables available. They would turn people away, because they had so many regular customers, that they knew for example that a certain customer would come around 7 on a Thursday night. They had no menu's and no prices. The sushi chefs were unbelievable.Many times when I sat down at the sushi bar they would serve a little dish immediately with out me asking. This was usuallly a bit of salmon, cucumber scallion and some soy sauce and sesame oil. So this is what I tried to copy today.

 

It came out well, I really enjoy the combined flavors.

And lastly, just some salmon sashimi and scallop (Hotategai in Japanese).

I'm not a huge scallop fan, but I love raw scallop. If you eat raw scallop, make sure you buy yourself the freshest you can find. Store in the fridge wrapped in paper towel. The paper towel will get all the moisture out of it and will result in getting maximum flavor.

Now what should I make for dinner?

Sashimi, Salad and a Silly Band Queen

I don't live in a big city as you know, so my sushi restaurants locally are not the greatest. Don't get me wrong, they're ok but just not fantastic. Sadly, they are all pretty expensive. So every now and then I treat myself to an order from Catalina Offshore Products.  (no compensation) They are located in San Diego, and sell some terrific products, including some of the best Uni (sea urchin roe) I have had. When you sign up as member, you will receive emails with specials. I took advantage of one of those specials and ordered some wild California King Salmon. Now the product is frozen, but let me tell you how good this is. I have a friend who is a chef and he laughed at me that I ordered frozen fish. He said "I can order you anything you want fresh". Yes folks, fresh is better then frozen, BUT.....I brought my "non believing" friend a small sample to try and I can tell you he was blown away.
Take a look at this nice fatty salmon sashimi;

This salmon is so tasty, you don't even need soy/tamari sauce and wasabi. I had some with and with out. I also put a tiny dollop of garlic chili sauce on the salmon instead of tamari and wasabi dip. Delicious.

I don't know if you have ever tried this in a sushi restaurant;

This little treat is called "Ankimo"

It's monk fish liver. It is sometimes called "foie gras of the sea"

A bit of ponzu sauce really let the flavors stand out.

A quick home made ponzu sauce you can make (and use for many other dishes) is just adding some lemon juice to your soy/tamari sauce. It makes for a nice change of flavor.

When you order this as an appetizer in a sushi restaurant, it usually costs between $9.95 and $15.95. A whole roll from Catalina costs $15.99. Ahhh affordable sushi/sashimi what could be better?

Life can't always be filled with the above delicacies, and other days we make do with the basics. Like a salad.

Just a nice lunch salad consisting of romaine lettuce, cucumber, peppers, red onion and salami.

Dressing is just some evoo and fresh ground pepper and a dash of sea salt.

And here my Silly Band Queen

Amazing isn't it? Some one decides to manufacture some plastic bracelets in all sorts of shapes and becomes a multi millionaire pretty much over night. Has this crazyness hit your area too?

"You can get everything in life you want.....if you will just help enough other people get what they want"

Meals

Smoked salmon with avocado and cucumber salad

Probiotic cucumber salad/soup

Probiotic cucumber salad/soup

Bacon and scallion. Toss on a spinach salad with some evoo and mustard

They sell this at Costco. Some of the best canned wild salmon I've tasted.

Lamb with shaved broccoli, onion, peppers and garlic.

Brazilian cheese bread  "pao de queijo"

One of my favorite home made treats off all time. Tapioca flour, butter, cheese and garlic.

You could use these to make "sandwhiches" also. Stuff them with some precooked spicy ground beef or shredded chicken.

"TRUE NOBILITY IS NOT ABOUT BEING BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE......IT IS ABOUT BEING BETTER THAN YOU USED TO BE"