Coffee & Some Danish.

Over recentweeks, I have become the weeniest bit obsessed with coffee.  Personally, I blame the time ofyear.  Gazing, bleary-eyed into mymorning mug, the darkness of the winter is reflected perfectly in the slowblack sloe black pitch of my early cuppa Joe (incidentally did you know that itIS a ‘cuppa’ Joe and not a ‘cup of’ Joe as the GIs stationed in Britain adoptedour slangy way of saying ‘cuppa’ tea and used it for their coffee).  It seems perverse given theassociations of speed that we give to a shot of caffeine but I think thatslowness and coffee are made for each other.  I had a wonderful lesson in the benefits of slowcoffee-making given to me a couple of months ago by Elliot Wallis fromMonkshood Coffee. 

This is notthe only reason for my coffee compulsion. I was recently bought the box set of first series of The Killing.  If you haven’t seen it then you mustbecause it is a brilliant Danish drama about a murder investigation.  It was made a bit famous because of thelead detective’s love of knitwear. However, the series really should be made famous for it’s infatuationwith the Arabica bean because if there’s one thing that they do a lot of in TheKilling,it’s drink coffee.  If you thoughtwe love coffee what with all our Costa this and Starbucks that then you need tohave a word with yourself.  TheDanes drink coffee like we stand in queues, except they do it better.  Hardly anyone in The Killing has any alcohol, thereare only a couple of times in the 24 hour-long episodes where we see peopledrinking booze but coffee is consumed all the time. It is the blood that pumpsthrough the arteries of Copenhagen and is used as a plot driver, a prop for theaction and a metaphor all at once. One of the lead characters is a politician who drinks coffee withglorious delight as he fires half of his cabinet, each sacking punctuatedanother ruthless sip.  Each tablein The Killing, whether corporate or family, has another shiny devicefor warming coffee, or blending coffee or enjoying coffee in some new andwondrous way.

I apologise here and now to anyonewho comes into contact with me over the next few weeks because this coffeefixation is not going anywhere.  Ihave just received season two of The Killing and am currently wading through series one of the Danish political drama, Borgen.  Then after that there’s a new series called The Bridge and after thatthere’ll be time for Borgen 2.  Then Borgen 3. Right now I talk about not much else and I am aware how boring it hasbecome.  I am truly, truly sorry.  Tak.

The Best Soup In The World

Everyone is going mad for chicken soup at the moment so I thought I'd share my fave.  This is a recipe I wrote for a friend's cookbook.

For the stock:

A free-range chicken

2 onions

2 sticks celery

2 carrots

Black peppercorns

Salt

For the soup:

Fish sauce

Lemons

Chilli flakes

1 tin of coconut milk

A bunch of coriander

Some spinach leaves

Dried noodles

This is absolutely my favourite meal in the world.  This would be my desert island dish and is the one that I dream about most.  It is, in short, the most kick-ass bowl of food you’ll ever make.

I use a whole chicken for the stock simply because you get a wonderful, rich flavour that you just don’t get from a stock made from a roasted carcass.  It might sound a bit extravagant but it is totally worth it.  You can siphon off and freeze some to make a risotto with so you’ll get at least two meals out of this.

So, first things first and make the stock.  Put your chicken in a big pan with a tight fitting lid, chop the onions, carrots and celery into quarters and add them to the chicken.  Then cover the whole lot with water.  Season with salt and add a few pinches of black peppercorns.  Bring to the boil then simmer with the lid on for about an hour and a half.  Remove from the heat, take out the chicken and set aside then strain the stock and discard the flavouring vegetables.

When you make the soup remember that you’re trying to get a balance of the four S’s; sweet (coconut milk), sour (lemons), salty (fish sauce) and spicy (chilli).  The balance is totally down to your taste so my advice is loosely follow the recipe but keep tasting it and adapt it to your own preference.

So, return the stock to a medium heat and to it add about a teaspoon and a half of chilli flakes, the juice of three lemons (or more or less if you like), about ten shakes of fish sauce and a tin of coconut milk.  Give it about 15 minutes, taste and adjust these flavours to your taste.  When you’re happy, chop up the coriander leaves and add to the soup then give it a blitz with a hand blender.  After you’ve done this, rehydrate the noodles as per the instructions on the packet and take all the meat off the chicken.  Then serve by placing some noodles in a deep bowl, then on top of these put some raw spinach leaves (the heat of the soup will wilt them just so), place some shredded chicken on the spinach and ladle over some of the soup.  Serve with a spoon and some chopsticks and enjoy the best bowl of soup you’ll ever have.