Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Shrimp

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 orange pepper

1 hot green pepper of your choice

5 tomatoes skinned and seeded

3 small carrots diced
1 leek diced
juice of one lime
1/2 white onion diced
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon of
 Sweet Spanish Smoked Paprika by La Tienda
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 celery stocks diced
1 quart or so of white stock
To garnish: parsley, sour dough croutons and cooked fresh shrimp

Start by roasting your peppers. In addition, you will peel and seed the tomatoes. The hot pepper is  roasted and seeded too. To peel and seed  tomatoes you drop them into boiling water for a couple of minutes. Chop the tomatoes and peppers into rough chunks. Set them aside.

Next you will saute the carrots, onions, celery, and leek. After the vegetables have a little color, add in the garlic and dry spices. Saute a couple of minutes. Then add in your tomatoes, peppers and stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. You will then process the soup in a blender.

Add in the lime juice and check for seasoning.
To garnish add chopped parsley, sour dough croutons and cooked shrimp.

This soup can be served cold.

Suggested serving bowlsLe Souk Ceramique 5-Inch Set of 4 Soup/Cereal Bowls, Honey Design

Merinque Noisette

4 ounces hazelnuts

7 large egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound of sugar

1 ounce of cornstarch

Meiringen, Switzerland: Where the Italian Chef

 Gasparin created the first merinque.

Start by roasting the hazel nuts in a 350 degree oven until golden. Then place in a kitchen towel and rub as much of the skins off as you can.

Chop nuts up finely. I use a Progressive International Heavy Duty Nut Chopper for quick work. Then turn down your oven to 250 degrees.

Mix the nuts and cornstarch together and set aside.

Whip egg whites with a OXO Good Grips 11-Inch Balloon Whisk in a Old Dutch 10-Inch Beating Bowl, Copper until they are the volume of about four cups. Slowly add the sugar in by the teaspoon full. Then add the vanilla.

Gently fold the nuts in. Place the mixture into a piping bag and shape as you like. You can make mushrooms like The French Connection Bakery, Lori's Meringue Mushrooms, 3-Ounce Packages (Pack of 2) or hearts. The Meringue Noisette will take one hour to cook and should be dry.

Italian Focaccia Loaves

Biga Starter

2 cups starch water at room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons of regular dried yeast

2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour

Starch water is water that has cooked pasta, potatoes or rice.  The yeast will have a head start with the starch water. Add the yeast to the water and dissolve. Then add in the flour and mix will. Let the biga sit at room temperature for two and one half hours. Make sure that the temperature of the proofing area is at least seventy degrees.

Then cover the biga and refrigerate overnight. The biga will last a couple of days.

The day you will be making the bread you will need to take the biga out in the morning.

Bring to room temperature.

12 ounces of starter

1 teaspoon of yeast

7 cups of flour

3 ½ teaspoons of salt

3 cups of starch water

Mix the starter, starch water and yeast until well incorporated. Then add salt and flour. Mix for fifteen minutes at medium speed with a hook attachment of a KitchenAid KSM150PSWH Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, White.

Dough will be wetter than you are use to. This is the secret of open holes and well developed bread. Let the dough proof for two hours. Again the temperature of the proofing room should be at least 70 degrees.

Then punch down the dough and shape into logs. The sides of the logs must be supported as the dough is very wet. I line the Fox Run 18 Inch x 2.75 Inch French Bread Pan with parchment paper covered with cooking spray. Proof the dough for one hour. Be sure to cover the dough with parchment paper covered with cooking spray.

You will then refrigerate the dough for eight hours.

Then preheat your oven to 400 degrees. At the bottom of your oven you will place a heat proof pan with boiling water. Then place the loaves in the oven and bake for 50 minutes. It is important to watch the loaves at this point as they can burn. I turn them every 15 minutes or so. During the last 10 minutes you will turn the loaves upside down to brown the bottom of the loaves.

This recipe makes three loaves.

The biga starter can be used for pizza!

You will just use the same recipe up to the point of shaping the loaves. Instead of shaping the dough into loaves, you will shape the dough into the desired pizza shape. I then let them rise for an hour or so.

 If you would like a lighter crust. You can use 00 four. Many fancy pizza places do.

The oven temperature should be at 425 degrees. You will prebake your pizza shells until light in color and well set.

You can then top your pizza and place it back in the oven. Or you can freeze the shells.

Scandinavian Gravlax

Salmon should only be one and a half inches thick or thinner.

Recipe is for two and a half pounds of salmon.

Curing will take two or three days depending on how thick the salmon is.

Cure

Pacific NW Indian Art http://www.freespiritgallery.ca/

1 1/3 cups
kosher salt                                                  

1 1/3 cups of sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon of
Szeged Sweet Paprika Powder ( 5 Oz. / 142 G )

2 teaspoons of
Juniper Berries Whole - 1.6 OZ crushed

2 teaspoons of ground fennel seeds

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of gin

Salmon                                                                        

Fillet with the skin on and all pin bones removed.

The skin will be removed when you slice it.

Combine all the spices in a bowl and mix well. Lay half of the spice mixture in a flat Pyrex Bakeware 4.8 Quart Oblong Baking Dish, Clear and then lay the salmon onto the spice mixture. Sprinkle with gin.You must make sure the spices cover the whole fish evenly. Lay a piece of wax paper over the entire fish.Then lay another pan the same size over the fish. You will then weigh it down with large cans.

Place in the refrigerator for two to three days.

After the salmon has cured remove the wax paper. Then scrape the cure from the salmon and rinse it. Lay it on some paper towels and dry. Slice the gravlax very thin when you are ready to eat. Be sure to refrigerate and it will keep for one week.

Serve with Crème Fraiche and capers.

Toasted rye FlatOut Artisan Flat Bread - Traditional Country - 5 Flatbreads, 9 oz.with garlic and olive oil is really nice.

1 cup Crème Fraiche                                     

lemon juice to taste

¼ cup fresh chives or dill

salt and freshly ground pepper