Requested seafood soup from Emeril

Sorry I missed you all last week. Riley Hunt told me that if I sent him the ‘recipe for laughter,’ he would furnish the recipes. Sorry I wasn’t able to do that, Riley. So here is last week’s column. Take care and remember … I’ll be seeing you around … Agnes.

A few weeks ago I was asked for a recipe for a seafood or fish soup with a broth-like liquid … not like the roux-type liquids. Well, I found one that I think you will like. It was recommended by a New England friend and is courtesy of my favorite chef, Emeril Lagasse. Please enjoy.

Seafood Soup

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

For the broth:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

Salt and pepper

3 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf

8 peppercorns

2 sprigs thyme

1 pound fish bones

Water to cover

1 cup white wine

In a large sauce pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for three minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, and thyme. Add the fish bones, water and wine. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain.

For the Rouille:

1 red pepper, roasted and peeled

2 cloves garlic

1 piece of white bread torn into pieces

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Juice of one lemon

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup olive oil.

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients, except for the oil. Puree until smooth. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil. Season the emulsion with salt and pepper. Garnish: 12 slices of crusty French bread

For the Bouillabaisse:

Pinch of Saffron

1 cup leeks, julienned

3 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

Juice and zest of one orange

1 cup fennel, julienned

2 tablespoons garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

2 pounds assorted small whole fresh fish from the Mediterranean such as whiting, squid, sea bass, scorpion fish, eel, angler fish, cleaned and scaled

1 large lobster

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 pound mussels

1/2 pound littleneck clams

Salt and pepper

Place the stock on the heat and bring to a simmer. Add the saffron, leeks, tomatoes, orange juice, orange zest, fennel, garlic, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add the fish and lobsters. Cook for eight minutes. Add the shrimp, mussels, and clams. Cook for six minutes, or until the shells have opened. Discard any shells that do not open. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble: Remove the seafood from the pan and place on a large platter. Pour the stock into a serving bowl.

Serve the Rouille and crusty bread on the side of the Bouillabaisse. For individual servings, arrange the seafood in a shallow dish. Ladle the stock over the seafood. Drizzle the Rouille over the seafood and serve with the crusty bread. Yield: six servings

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Lemon Yogurt Cake

8 servings

1 and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray round cake pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, combine yogurt with sugar. Add eggs slowly and then stir in remaining ingredients. Add flour mixture to yogurt mix. Stir well. Pour in cake pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Let set in pan for five minutes and remove.

Let cool completely and glaze with a lemon sauce. Serve plain, or serve warm with a little lemon butter.

Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Once cake is done and cooled. Combine ingredients until well mixed and pour on top of cake.

Lemon Butter

Whip a stick of room temperature butter with 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

•••

Recipe for Laughter:

Grandpaw’s Advice

A tough old cowboy from Texas counseled his granddaughter that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal every morning. The granddaughter did this religiously until she died at the age of 103.

She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, 25 great-great-grandchildren, and a 40-foot hole where the crematorium used to stand.

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