pigeon pea soup and much more. Soup can be a first course or a complete meal depending on your appetite. The really great thing about soup is that it does not require more than a good pot on a cooking surface to get super results. No need to fire up the oven. Even a modest alcohol stove can produce great soup. Keep it simple. Let it simmer. Eat it often from bowl or mug. Here are two simple but excellent soup recipes that will comfort your weary body, soothe your prickled palate and restore your faith in humanity. Hmm, I might be pushing the last claim just a bit….
Hot or Cold Vichyssoise You can make this flavourful soup without a ham bone if you wish, but the flavour is superior when a ham bone is used. This classic soup can be served hot to restore you after a long, wet passage or cold as a light summer supper in the cockpit. Don’t let the fancy name scare you off. It is fairly quick and very easy to make. 4 pounds (1.8 kg) potatoes 2 leeks 1/2 Cup (125 ml) fresh parsley, chopped
by Ross Mavis
Always Good for What Ails You
Have a food question? You can reach me at ross.mavis@gmail.com.
info@marigotbeachclub.com www.marigotbeachclub.com
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4 Cups (1 litre) chicken stock 1 ham bone salt and pepper to taste 1/2 Cup (125 ml) evaporated milk (or cream) Wash and peel potatoes, slicing thinly. Cut green tops and bottom root fronds off leeks. (If you can’t get leeks, substitute yellow onions.) Slice white sections of leeks thinly and wash to remove any sand or dirt. Place potatoes, leeks, and chopped parsley into pot with chicken stock and ham bone. Bring to the boil and simmer until potatoes are fork tender. Remove ham bone, discard and let soup cool slightly. In a blender or food processor, carefully purée soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add evaporated milk (or cream if you wish) and, for hot soup, reheat until steaming. Do not let boil. Serve immediately in hot bowls with parsley garnish. For cold soup, served chilled but not ice cold. Enjoy!
CARIBBEAN COMPASS
Healing Chicken Soup 3 pounds (1.5 kg) chicken pieces (backs and necks are fine) 10 Cups (2.5 litres) water (enough to cover chicken well) 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt 1 onion, finely chopped 1/4 Cup (50 ml) fresh parsley, chopped 1 bay leaf pepper to taste Any chicken pieces or a whole chicken will do just fine for this great and easy soup. Wash chicken, trimming excess fat. Place in stockpot or saucepan and cover with water. Add all other ingredients except pepper and bring to the boil over medium heat. Skim foam from top of soup. Cover and let simmer for about two hours. Remove from heat, strain broth. Chicken can be taken from the bones and eaten in salad, casseroles or sandwiches. Broth should be chilled to solidify fat for easy removal. Reheat broth and enjoy with pepper to taste. This is delicious as is, and makes an excellent base for other soups.
JUNE 2014
Had a rough passage from the Virgins to Martinique? Came in dead last in the last regatta, and now you don’t feel so good? Bored in the boatyard? Sad to see your best cruising pals sail off to the Med? Soup, especially chicken soup, can be both comforting and rejuvenating. As well as a great comfort food, soups, and broth in particular, have long been touted as ideal remedies for illness. I’m a firm believer in this. Granted, the powers of chicken broth are sometimes over-rated. The good news, however, is that an excess of these bowls of golden sunshine won’t do you any harm. Our French ancestors had two words that are linked to the English word soup: soupe and potage. In the 17th century these were more like stews than purely liquid fare. Soupe referred to the ingredients placed into a broth or bouillon. Today, a soupe is considered a peasant style of soup. Potage originally was a large dish of meat or fish boiled with vegetables. It was served on platters, with some of the liquid more as an afterthought. Today our mostly liquid soups form two main categories, those considered clear and those thick. Clear soups or consommes are served either hot or cold. Thick soups are of three main types: cream, purée or velouté. Suffice it to say that cream soups are finished off with cream in their preparation. Purées are either rubbed through a sieve or processed with a food processor to a fine smooth texture. Veloutés incorporate a white sauce into the final product. There are more soup recipes worldwide than you have time available to consume them. In the Caribbean, soup is just as popular as anywhere else. Here you’ll find pumpkin soup, callaloo soup, corn soup, fish broth, conch chowder, “goat water”, cow heel soup,