A Whiteout/Cooking Opportunity

My garden yesterday morning.

Finally, it seems it is going to snow continuously over the next week, so we will all be looking forward to some amazing skiing from the second week of January. Just in time for annual boys and girls ski weekends. 

So, what does one do in a ski resort when there is a blizzard outside? Cook, of course.

A Thai green curry paste for use over the season?  A Thai friend in Verbier kindly provided many of the missing ingredients for the recipe otherwise it might have been a little challenging to make an authentic curry paste.  I used the Thai Kitchen recipe on the internet and in the absence of Thai shallots and shrimp paste, I substituted normal shallots and fish sauce.  My hauling of spices from London certainly helped make up most of the ingredient list and the local grocer had fresh lemongrass, coriander, and fresh chilies (I also have my chili stash).

The key thing to this recipe is the non stop grinding in the mortar and pestle until you have the paste.  Good wrist and arm exercise.

After making and storing the paste in tablespoon measures in the freezer (use an ice cube tray or wrap each tablespoon in plastic wrap like sweets). I went on to make broccoli soup, confit with roast potatoes, ratatouille, then threw an impromptu dinner party.  A good use of a snowy day!

I didn't take any photos of dinner but here are a few pointers re: soup.   After softening some yellow onions (two small ) and adding chicken stock (2 cubes or two pints fresh chicken stock) add 3 heads of broccoli. Soften, puree and then put through a sieve for better texture. If the soup is too thick, add some water to the mixture.  Then bring back to a boil then turn off heat, put a dollop of double cream and some crumbled roquefort (I ran out of Stilton) and season. Serve immediately.

Confit is confit, no brainer.  I use the duck fat to roast my potatoes.  Ratatouille, the best recipe is still Julia Child's.  If you follow it to the t, it's fabulous. Add a rocket salad for more greens and some good homemade Swiss ice cream to finish off. Snowy days are certainly bad for the waistlines.