Replicating Favorites: Spicy Seafood Soup

Now that the weather has gotten colder, sometimes all I crave for dinner is a bowl of hot soup.  One of my favorites introduced by HH is the spicy seafood soup from Blue Ribbon Sushi & Grill.  Even though I do work close enough to swing by once in a while to enjoy a bowl, the habit can get expensive.  The next logical step is of course to try to replicate this in my own kitchen.

A quick stop at Eataly is all I need to gather the ingredients for this soup.  I grab a few plump scallops, small filet of Scottish salmon and three jumbo shrimps (or whatever you are in the mood for really).  Throw in a bunch of enoki mushroom and a handful of baby kale which holds up beautifully in the broth, the soup becomes a complete meal.

Of course, the most important part of a seafood soup is the broth.  With limited time and ingredients on hand to replicate the depth of the broth from Blue Ribbon, I cheat a little.  My trick is a tiny tablespoon of white miso with dashi and shrimp shell.  I make sure the peel the shrimp first and start cooking the shell in the water.  While the shell cooks to flavor the water, I slice and chop the rest of the ingredients.

When the shell has had a good amount of time to give the water its flavor, I start to cook the rest of the seafood.  Instead of letting the scallops and fish boil in the broth, I lower the temperature and gently poach them.  Only a minute or two in the broth and just shy of cooked to preserve the tenderness, I pull them out and set them in the bowl and continue to finish the broth by cooking the enoki mushroom and baby kale.  To finish the broth, I add a dash of rice wine and a drizzle of soy and squeeze of lime and a scattering of cilantro.

Spicy Seafood Soup with Baby Kale and Enoki

Serves 1

• 3 scallops, cut into inch-slices
• 2 oz. salmon, cut into inch-slices
• 3 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon white miso paste with dashi
• Handful of baby kale
• Small bundle of enoki mushroom
• 1 long red spicy chili, sliced thinly
• 1/2 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine
• 1 tablespoon soy (or to taste)
• Cilantro
• Salt

1. Cook the shell from the shrimp and the water while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
2. After 5-10 minutes, add the white miso paste and the spicy chili (how much depends on how spicy you like it).
3. Lower the temperature until the broth is barely simmering.  Using a slotted spoon, gently lower the scallops and salmon into the broth and cook for only 1-2 minutes.  They should be a few seconds shy of completely cooked as sitting in the hot broth will finish cooking them.  The shrimp should be cooked a minute longer but same philosophy applies.  Place the seafood in the serving bowl.
4. Next, turn up the heat to medium high and add in the greens and enoki mushrooms.  Finish with the rice wine and soy.  Add salt to taste.
5. Pour the broth over the seafood and finish with a squeeze of the lime juice and top of fresh cilantro.