Tag: soup

Number 9: Daphnel Stew

Here we are, another nondescript savory dish. Next week I’m doing a dessert, though.

The Dish: Daphnel Stew

Minced poultry and onions boiled with salt. The simple recipe lets high-quality ingredients speak for themselves. Ingredients include Poultry and Onion.

The Research: What’s this? Easy-to-obtain, clear ingredients? Actual cooking instructions? No hard-to-find stuff? Good lord, it’s the holy grail of fictional recipes!

Okay, so I looked at the recipe in-game. It’s clear this is a kind of creamy stew, with…I’m just gonna assume potatoes. It’s clear that something is floating in there, and the only other options are onions (gross), or chicken, but in ball form (ewwwwwwww). There are also whole green onions, which you will realize as not a thing people do. So with our modifications (chopping the taters and chopping the green onions), it’s stew time, baby.

The Method: I’m sticking as close to the text (and image) as possible. That means that with two exceptions, it’s just chicken, salt, onion, potato, and whatever I choose to use to build the liquid portion of my stew. That also means chopping. Lots and lots of chopping. I start by chopping the chicken thighs – about 2.5 pounds worth – into bite-sized pieces. Once achieved, I toss them with some kosher salt (I would ordinarily use black pepper as well, but I’m choosing to literally interpret the rules) and store them in a bag for refrigeration.

While they chill out in their salt, the next order is to chop up some potatoes. I know they’re apparently whole in the game, but c’mon, it’s a soup, you want things to be bite-sized. Anyway, give those the salt treatment as well, then chop up some green onions. Now it’s cooking time!

In an olive oiled pot (a little olive oil being the first exception to our rule…you gotta grease the pan a little!), we cook our chicken thighs until done. Skim those out using a slotted spoon, making sure to leave the rendered fat behind, which we’re gonna put to use…right now. Drop in about half a diced white onion (I use pre-diced, you can dice your own if you so choose) and sauté it in all that wonderful chicken fat. Once the onion chunks are good and soft, add an appropriate amount of flour to form a roux, which will thicken your stew. It’s true, that’s what’ll happen to you.

Next, we pour in a 32-ounce container of chicken stock, a couple of glugs of dry white wine, a solid amount of half and half, and a couple pinches of MSG (exception 2 to our rule but very welcome). Give all of that a stir, then we drop in the potatoes and green onions. Bring it to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, then drop the chicken in and cook for a few minutes and…it’s ready!

The Result: I was fully expecting to come out of this going “well, it was okay, but it was missing…carrots, various aromatics, and other miscellanea that stews and soups need!” But I’ve gotta say, despite the minimalist recipe, this one was flat-out delicious. There were relatively few ingredients, it was easy, and it was really good.

Number 7: Fish and Bean Soup

Fish! Beans! I…don’t have anything to say about those!

I forgot to showcase the stock and wine.

The Dish: Fish and Bean Soup

A soup made by simmering white trout and chickpeas. A simple yet wholesome dish. Ingredients are – get this – White Trout and Chickpeas.

The Research: It’s fish and beans. It’s widely-available fish and widely-available beans. There will be no substitutions today. The only question to answer is how to make it. I could’ve just simmered the fish in the bean water, I guess, but instead I think I’ll make a take on cioppino, a seafood soup.

The Method: Before you do anything, chop some potatoes into your desired size and cut your trout into bite-sized pieces. Toss your fish with salt, pepper, and lime juice, then let it sit until you use it. Don’t do this too far in advance – you don’t wanna let it sit in the lime juice too long, because it’ll cook the fish to some degree (that’s how they make ceviche).

We start the cooking, as we often do, by sautéing some diced onions in a large pot in olive oil. Once translucent, hit them with 6 crushed cloves of garlic, and once that’s smelling good, hit it with a generous squeeze of tomato paste and combine the mixture. Given how often this is done, I’m surprised there isn’t a clever nickname for it, like “OG Paste” or something.

Anyway, once that mixture is cooked for a few minutes, you’re gonna wanna drop in a 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then drop in one cup of seafood stock and one cup of dry white wine, followed by your canned chickpeas and potatoes. Give it a stir, bring it to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender (about 30 minutes for me, but this will vary widely).

Once the potatoes are melt-in-your-mouth soft, put in your trout, and return to boil, then simmer until cooked. Serve immediately – or don’t, I’m not your dad, as far as I know.

The Result: Oh my. As it was cooking it smelled too much of wine and tasted a little sour, but the end result was nothing short of amazing. Every element of the soup was delicious – even the chickpeas, which I assumed would kind of disappear into the final dish. I recommend eating it with oyster crackers, and you’ll have a lot of opportunities – this recipe definitely makes leftovers aplenty. I guess you could say that the fish was delish and made quite a dish.

Disclaimer: This is a fan-based blog and has no affiliation with Nintendo or any other rightsholders of Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem Three Houses, or any other associated brands. Seriously, don’t leave it in the lime juice too long.