Seafood Ramen

Seafood Ramen, originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg.

I've been in a noodle mood lately and this noodle bowl is a result of this feeling.

I've recently 'discovered' fresh Ramen noodles - what a different foodstuff this is from the instant variety! And they barely take longer to cook than the instants...

I bought a pack of noodles one evening along with some frozen mussels and prawns (can't readily get the fresh variety in this land-locked part of England I live in...) and a couple of bunches of fresh pak choi. At home I combined these with chopped spring onions, a bit of shredded garlic and a crushed clove of garlic,. In an inspired moment, I added a little instant Japanese dashi and a scant handful of seaweed. I crumbled a bit of clear pork broth stock cube in there along with a slug or two of light soy sauce and the same amount of Thai fish sauce (nam pla). The effect was a simple, clear fresh soup.

Salt, freshly ground black pepper and a teaspoon of sugar were added at the end, to taste and the resulting dish was soooo tasty!

Devine!

Enjoy food.

Parsley Root Soup

Parsley Root Soup
Originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg

I must blog. I must blog. I must blog - now!
I've been remiss in keeping up with my blog. As the weeks slip past, the idea of getting back into the swing of it becomes more and more difficult to contemplate. A friend of mine suggested I restart my blog with a fun topic of mine - FOOD! Since we were talking on the phone I couldn't see her tongue wedged deeply in her cheek - as it must have been! But I got the point - a week later and here I am - writing my first post in many months:

Several months back, our Able & Cole vegetable box contained a surprise - deep in the box was a bunch of what looked like immature parsnips. On closer inspection, we noticed that the tops resembled (very closely!) flat-leaf parsley. What was this? There was a slip of paper in the box that promptly put 'paid' to the mystery - these were parsley roots! WTF?? The piece of paper as helpful as we could want - herein was a recipe - for Parsley Root Soup. Alas, the recipe has been recycled! Not to worry, though, if you're a cook you can see what's involved: Carrots, potatoes, kielbasa sausage, celery, tomatoes, vegetable or chicken stock and, of course, parsley root. Suffice it to say, it was unusual and very tasty. I'm grateful to know, too, what to look for under the earth when my parsley plants get woody, leggy and shuffle off this mortal coil finally - they have more to offer, yet.