My Bird's Nest Soup

Chris and Aslan, two of the very capable guys from Flying Colors Painting Company came by our house recently to pressure wash and paint the exterior. We shut all of our windows, as (sensibly) instructed. Then the wet, noisy process began.  

I have to admit, it was exciting, especially for our family's younger set, who stood patiently by each window watching, moving to the next suitable viewing point as the areas of washing shifted and water cascaded down around us.  

Since our house is adjacent to the woods, we end up with a lot of dampness and dirt, moss and leaves over the whole structure. Because of where it sits, our house (and yard) is the perfect receptacle for catching all the stuff that gets blown about and out of the woods. After many years of going without, the washing was much needed.

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The other thing that happens due to our location is that certain animals, birds especially, seem to view our house as an extension of the woods. This means that in the Spring, all sorts of interesting activities start up around us.

This year, a pileated woodpecker appeared (again), hammering away at a metal vent high on the east side of our house. The noise echoed loudly enough to set my back teeth on edge. This went on for what seemed like weeks. Bunnies hopped out past the rhododendron and onto our lawn. The deer -- well, if you've been reading this blog, you've already heard plenty about them.

For me, though, the most interesting visitors this year were the pair of robins who settled under one of the eaves out front. We watched them every day after they first arrived. They were so busy gathering twigs and bits of soft, sphagnum moss from the lawn that they didn't even notice us at first. 

I admired their work ethic and drive to protect the nest. My son and I would quietly lean over the edge of the porch together to examine its changes each day. The nest was beautiful in a fecund sort of way and surprisingly large, with wisps of light green hanging down from it.  It looked like something out of a children's book.

The hatchlings arrived and quickly became strong enough to fly off. Thankfully, the robins were done with the nest before the painters came.

After the pressure washing was done, the nest, which had been knocked out of the eave lay sideways and empty on the ground. Everything does have its time and season.

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My Bird's Nest Soup
When I was growing up in Chinatown, we would enjoy traditional bird's nest soup at wedding banquets. The authentic Chinese version is made from the spit of swallows, which lends the soup a viscous quality. Even as a child, I never found it (or the idea of it) either weird or disgusting. It was always just utterly delicious. This clean, simple and completely non-traditional version is my ode to Spring and our robin visitors. It makes a perfect light lunch or supper.

Serves 2.

Ingredients
1-8.8 ounce package of angel hair nests
6 cups good-quality chicken or vegetable broth, preferably homemade
1/3 of a bunch of fresh spinach, leaves wash and torn into pieces
2 very fresh, large eggs
1 teaspoon vinegar

Sesame oil for drizzling
Cilantro, parsley, basil or other soft-stemmed herbs, chopped
Fresh pepper and salt

Instructions
Place broth in a medium pot over medium heat. Once the broth comes to a simmer, turn to low to keep it hot. Taste for seasoning. If the broth is homemade you may need to adjust for salt.

Split the torn leaves between two wide soup bowls, placing them at the bottom. Set aside.

Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Salt water generously. Add two angel hair nests and cook according to package directions (mine were Delverde brand and took 3 minutes). Don't break up the nest shapes. They will cook through even undisturbed.

Bring another medium pot of water to boil. Add vinegar. Crack one egg at a time, placing eggs into separate ramekins or small cups. Using a wooden spoon, stir the water to create a vortex motion and slip one egg at a time into the water whites first.  Cook for three minutes. With a large metal spoon, scoop each egg out one at a time, cutting off loose strands of white with the edge of the spoon. Place one egg on top of each angel's hair nest.

Ladle hot broth along the sides of the bowl, making sure to cover the spinach and part of the pasta nest. The heat of the broth is sufficient to wilt the leaves.

Drizzle with sesame oil and garnish with fresh herbs and pepper.

Hearty Legumes and Greens Soup

As long as it's still January, I fear we will continue hearing about detoxes and cleanses, including those of the celebrity variety.

I do my best to eat a balanced diet, but sometimes it's hard to keep up, especially when I have a three-year-old running about (jumping around pretending he is a dinosaur of the carnivorous variety would be more accurate).

Mostly we eat what he eats. Sometimes I eat what's left on his compartmentalized kid plate after it's been sitting for a while -- shriveled peas, slivers of stale cheese, dried out tortellini.

Not so long ago I was talking to a cashier at Trader Joe's. He gazed at my son sitting in the front of the shopping cart and mentioned that he had a two-year-old daughter at home. Somehow, we began discussing the five-second rule and how now that we're parents we've inevitably cast such silliness aside.

"Five seconds on the floor, thirty seconds, is there really a difference?" He shrugged, though I could tell he was sincerely hoping I would agree.

I nodded then asked, "Do you ever pick up food from the floor and just eat it?"

"Yeah," He admitted, his eyes shifting away, perhaps from embarrassment. "Definitely."

Let me clear something up right now. There is no shame in picking up an old cracker, dusting it off (this, to me, is what easily constitutes a "cleanse") and popping it into your mouth, especially after you've been awoken multiple times in the middle of the night for no apparent reason by a little human and just can't think very clearly now that daylight has arrived. 

To all the highly-ambitious, disciplined individuals who are currently engaging in detoxing and cleansing activities involving solid or liquid food items other than old crackers, I commend you. The best I am going to be able to do this year I'm afraid, is clean out the pantry. Which I think in some ways, is equally as important as cleaning out one's colon.

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Time to clean out that pantry!

Now. Cleaning out the pantry doesn't necessarily mean throwing everything out. I for one hate wasting food and am always trying my utmost to make sure nothing goes to waste. However, if you've amassed odds and ends of dried beans over the course of the past twelve months as I have, soup is an ideal vehicle for using them well.

Here's a hearty and satisfying winter "stoup" - a stewy, hearty soup, versions of which you'll find in any French or French-inspired cookbook from grand dame Julia Child to restauranteur, Jody Williams.

You can use a variety of beans, as long as there are some larger, sturdier ones mixed in with smaller types. Beans of nearly any kind have an affinity for dark, leafy greens and pork. I used a nice ham hock - a cured but uncooked ham - from the Berkshire hog we'd purchased from Farmer Jeff in the Fall.

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The beauty of a Berkshire ham hock.

If you lack access to a hock, bacon or a ham bone will suffice as well. The greens used here also lend a mineral flavor which cuts through the richness of the pork and starchiness of the beans.

Get your kitchen in order and make this - very, very soon. Then, feel pleased as you sit back and eat a bowl of this satisfying soup, your pantry well cleansed.

Hearty Legumes and Greens Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1/2 cup dried chickpeas
1 cup lima beans
1/2 cup pinto beans
1/2 cup green lentils
Extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 yellow onion
1 fennel bulb
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, finely ground
1 tablespoons tomato paste
1 uncooked ham hock

Freshly ground black pepper
Salt

Instructions
Place chickpeas in a bowl, covering with at least two inches of cold and allow to soak overnight. In a separate bowl, place lima beans, pinto beans and lentils, cover with water and allow to soak overnight. The next day, drain and set the two separate bowls aside.

Thoroughly wash chard. Remove leaves from stems, roughly chop. Finely dice the stems. Peel and finely dice the onion. Trim off stems and finely dice the fennel. Mince the garlic clove.

Over medium heat, place 1/4 of olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the chard leaves, stems, onion and fennel. Cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 12-15 minutes.

Stir minced garlic, ground fennel seeds and tomato paste into the vegetables. Cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add ham hock. Add drained chickpeas then cover the entire mixture with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to allow the mixture to simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the remaining reserved beans and lentils then add enough water to cover. Cook for about 1 1/2 hours, until the soup becomes quite thick and all the beans are tender. Season with salt and pepper. The ham may have added all the salt that you will need.

Remove ham hock. Trim all the skin and meat off the hock and cut into small pieces.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls, add pieces of ham and additional pepper. Garlic croutons are a nice addition as well.

Adapted from Jody Williams' Buvette.

Leek, Potato and Smoked Salmon Soup

The Pacific of coastal Washington seems an entirely different being from the ocean I knew when I lived in Southern California. There, even on January days, I would step off the sandy expanse of beach, leapfrog under the waves going past the break and swim happily away.

Here, sandy beaches are as uncommon as sunny days in winter and the Pacific is cold, dark and mysterious. The earth's brittle tectonic plates lay hidden fathoms beneath the San Juan de Fuca Strait to the south and the Georgia Strait to the northwest.

The Washington coast offers a contrasting beauty, one with impressive cliff drop offs and rocky beaches that disappear and reappear with the changes of the tide. It can be moody and unruly. It is my kind of coast, its primordial energy ever apparent.

The longer I live in the Pacific Northwest the more I seem to want everything from my interactions with people to the food I eat to be as straightforward as the coastal landscape. Less adornment, more of the basics. This place, by its natural, unstripped stance defies those of us who live within it to seek the authentic in all aspects of life.

When it comes to food, the local ingredients and products we have available to us are so stellar that they need few flourishes. The actual flavor of everything from a sliver of roasted beet or parsnip to a morsel of aged Gouda shines through in each bite.

Take this soup. Perfect for the chilliest and dampest day, it's made of five simple ingredients: leeks, potatoes, a small piece of smoked salmon, veggie broth and a splash of milk. It may not sound like much but it is indeed comfort in a bowl. Comfort, which joins together the plainest flavors of the winter soil with the brininess of the sea. 

For me, the star here is the hot-smoked salmon, from Lummi Island Wild, which practices reef-net fishing here in our local waters. If you have never heard of reef-net fishing, it is one of the greenest fishing methods, practiced by Native American tribes for centuries. Salmon are caught and immediately placed, live, in tanks to minimize stress and decrease the release of stress hormones. This results in sweeter tasting fish.

Hot-smoked fish as the one I've used in this soup is cooked through during the smoking process then allowed to cool, whereas cold-smoked fish is processed at around room temperature and remains raw.

If you don't have access to a good smoked salmon, try another type of fish such as smoked trout or pollock. Your soup will still be warming and flavorful. More importantly, it will surely soothe you wherever you are located, whether sitting fireside in a cold, rainy climate or by a southerly and sunny shore.

Leek, Potato and Smoked Salmon Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 large leeks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 lbs. Yukon gold (or other waxy type) potatoes
6 cups vegetable broth
6 oz. hot-smoked salmon or other smoked fish
1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper
handful of chopped chives or green part of scallion

Instructions
Peel potatoes. Cut into 1/2-inch dice.

Using only the white part of the leek, cut leek in half lengthwise. Slice leek into thin half-moons.

In a medium pot, bring vegetable broth to a simmer. Add the entire piece of salmon and cook for 4 minutes, just enough to warm the fish and allow the broth to take on some of the fish flavor. Remove fish from broth and flake into bite-size pieces.

In a separate pot melt butter over medium-low heat. Add leeks and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until leeks have softened but not browned. Add potatoes then warmed broth. Bring to boil and turn to low, allowing mixture to gently simmer until potatoes have soften, approximately 30-40 minutes.

Once potatoes are tender, remove 3 cups of mixture and puree in a blender. You may alternatively use an immersion blender. Return puree to soup pot and add the milk. Add more milk or water to thin soup as needed, making sure not to bring the soup back to a boil once the milk is added.

Add flaked pieces of salmon. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in bowls garnished with chives or chopped scallions. A drizzle of smoked olive oil is always nice, as is a crusty roll on the side.

Adapted from The River Cottage Fish Book.