Friday, January 31, 2014

Cullen Skink

I keep trying fish recipes and saying, it's good but I wouldn't want to have it every week, and it occurs to me... who says I have to have anything every week? I am growing as a cook. Boy back in the day, it was Hollywood Grill for Sunday breakfast and Choppers for Sunday dinner, Taco Burrito Express for taco Tuesdays, and Little Caesar's Hot and Ready pizza for Friday dinner, but now Sunday breakfast is covered by my breakfast cooking practice, Sunday and Tuesday dinners are pre-workout and covered by my dinner cooking practice, and I actually go to the grocery and cook dinner Friday night. I mean, I love my quick salmon and broccoli, that's no problem to eat every week. Not every week of the year though, I was looking for one or three more techniques like that and maybe I'll find them. Or maybe I'll just make something different for Friday dinners—that's a thing, you know.

cullen skink

I got the tip for this from my auld friend Ariadne, I keep calling her my auld friend because she is an old friend, but also because she's Scottish! Look at the map! So this is Scottish fish soup, so maybe they have a different kind of smoked fish in Scotland, idk. I found 8 oz packages of smoked trout and another kind, I forget which, at the Jewel. I followed the original recipe as written, apart from changing it from metric, but I tasted the fish and quailed at putting in both 8-oz packages. I thought it would be too strong. Half the fish came out quite mild, so YMMV. I feel like 12 oz is where I'm going to settle at.

4 Tbsp butter
1 onion
1 leek
2 large baking potatoes
1 quart milk
8-16 oz smoked fish, I used trout
parsley

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat.

Finely chop the onion and leek and add it to the pan. Saute until soft but not browned, about eight minutes. Meanwhile peel and dice the potatoes, and mince a handful of parsley. Pour in the milk, turn up the heat to high, and bring it to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer until soft, about twenty minutes.

Add the fish and simmer until it slips off its skin and flakes easily. Carefully lift it out and let it cool a bit. Flake it and discard the skin and any bones. Add the flaked fish back to the soup, and stir in the parsley.