Kimchee and lamb sausage soup
Originally uploaded by Manne.
Spent the past weekend in Sweden visiting friends and family after the latest Livebookings Academy which was in Gothenburg. This time the venue was Avalon Hotel, which also houses a restaurant with the same name.
After the presentation we stayed on for dinner and treated ourselves to their set 3-course menu with matching wine package. Delicious! Particularly brilliant was the dessert, a perfectly cooked chocolate fondant with lemongrass ice cream and a milk chocolate creme served with an Amarone wine.
As I was going through some of the weekend posts from my favourite food blogs I found a delicious looking idea: leek, lamb sausage and kimchee stew! Thinking about dinner (always...), I decided to try it on tonight.
Since there was no recipe I had to improvise. It came out beautifully and took less than 30 minutes to make. Goes straight into the "quick and simple favourites" section in my recipe book.
Ingredients (serves 4, with bread)
5 lamb sausages
2 medium sized leeks, sliced
2 romano peppers, sliced
300 grams of kimchi
500 ml vegetable stock
1/2 lemon, juice
Lamb sausages I got from Greensmiths on Lower Marsh, where Ginger Pig runs the butcher's counter.
Helped by my trusted Twitter fellow foodies I was told to go to Centre Point Building near Tottenham Court Road for kimchi, to the aptly named "Centre Point Food Store" where you can find all kinds of Korean delights. Thanks @catty, @supercharz, @sulineats, @unwholey, @sugarbardiva and @BillGlover for great suggestions on places selling kimchi in London!
Pickled cabbage is a great treat in my opinion, and kimchi is right up there at the pinnacle of pickled cabbage design.
Method
I started with pan frying the sausages as I intended to cut them in slices which is much easier when the meat has cooked a bit.
Once nicely browned all over (no need to cook them all through as they will stew nicely in the soup) I transferred them to a cutting board and sliced them up at a severe angle (hey, I am using a technical term I learned at Ashburton Cookery School, yay!).
Then I melted some butter in a large pot and added the leek (which I also sliced at a severe angle, just so I could write it again). Once they started to go soft and slightly translucent I added the pepper (severely angled).
Gave it two or three minutes while stirring, then added the sausage and the vegetable stock. If you find the 500 ml doesn't really cover it all, add some more water.
Brought it all to a boil, let simmer for ten minutes.
To finish it up, added in the kimchi and the juice of half a lemon, let simmer for another few minutes until kimchi heated through.
Serve in bowls. Make sure you have a nice bread to scoop up the juices!
