Eight hours later and I was back at Logan Airport, in Boston. For the first time, I thought that I was really going to miss my flight, even if I made sure to arrive at the airport early. Flying stand-by, I had to. When we pulled in front of terminal A on Friday morning, the chatty taxi driver mumbled something between his lips before turning towards me: “Ah c’est pas vrai, encore une fois, ils ont bloqué le terminal. Quel bordel ! Je vais vous laisser plus loin” (again, they closed the terminal. What a mess! I will leave you at the next one). What? Closed the terminal? When did they decide to do this?
I had heard about it before but never experienced the mess of Charles de Gaulle like this. To understand, you have to imagine the airport’s terminal A fully evacuated, without warnings of anything, leaving passengers filling the road and curb because it was too crowded inside the next terminal to hold the mass of people, us. So we stood there with our loaded trolleys, ignorant of what was going on, because really, nobody told us. We waited. When I saw a man with a name tag around his neck walk by, I assumed he worked there and stopped him. He would know. “Qu’est-ce qui se passe ?” (What is going on?) I asked him. Scoop. An abandoned luggage, no, two in fact. They had to call the bomb squad. One hour later or maybe more, “boum“! Both luggage were destroyed, in the middle of the terminal. I can still remember the strong smell of sulfur we inhaled when we managed to return to the terminal. Maybe I waited for two hours in total. I am not sure anymore. It was not necessarily a bad thing you might think, except that after asking a few people working at the airport, including the check-in lady I walked to, I realized that this scene happens every day. “Today was a bit longer than usual,” she replied when I inquired more about it. Every day? I was so surprised that I did not know what to feel. Wouldn’t you think there must be another way?
But surprisingly, we made it fine, without major delays. After an easy flight aboard a mostly empty aircraft, I was soon back home, and glad. In my other home, to see P., get back into my kitchen to work on lots of new projects, and really looking forward to it.
It will most certainly take me a few days to settle in, that is when I stop waking up at four am every morning.
“Tu as envie de manger quoi ?” (What do you feel like eating?) I asked P. when I walked into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
“Quelque chose de simple”(something easy).
And, do you know what is something easy for me, to make and eat?
Soup.
“What is the green vegetable in it?” P. asked when I placed a bowl filled with steamy soup in front of him.
“Broccoli“, I replied, feeling funny to even say it.
“Ah bon? Weird, you never cook broccoli!”
True. So maybe it is time to start and change this habit. This one is definitely an off-the-beaten-path broccoli soup.
Thanks for my lovely green spoon, Pascale!
You need:
- 13 oz broccoli
- 1 leek, white part
- 2/3 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp galangal powder
- 1 shallot
- 1 + 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 inch ginger root
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 tsp salmon eggs
- Fresh coriander, chopped
Steps:
- Clean the broccoli and blanch in boiling salted water for 1 min. Rinse under cold water.
- Chop the leek, ginger and shallot.
- Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a thick-bottomed pot and add the leek, shallot and ginger.
- Cook for 1 min until softer and then add the galangal powder. Continue to cook for 1 min, until well coated and then add the broccoli. Continue to cook for about 2 to 3 min.
- Add the coconut milk and broth and cook for about 10 min.
- Season with salt and pepper and mix your soup using a blender.
- Pour in individual bowls and add 1 tsp salmon eggs in each bowl, with chopped coriander. Finish with 1 tsp olive oil. Serve.
Ingrédients :
- 350 g de brocoli
- 1 poireau, partie blanche
- 150 ml de lait de coco
- 1 càc de poudre de galanga
- 1 échalote, hachée
- 350 ml de bouillon de poule
- 2,5 cm de racine de gingembre
- 2 càs d’huile d’olive
- 4 càc d’oeufs de saumon
- Coriandre fraiche, hachée
Étapes :
- Nettoyez et faites cuire les bouquets de broccoli dans de l’eau bouillante salée, pendant 1 min. Rinsez-les sous de l’eau froide.
- Faites chauffer 1 càs d’huile d’olive dans une cocotte et ajoutez le gingembre, l’échalote et le poireau émincés.
- Faites suer pendant 1 min puis ajoutez la poudre de galanga. Ajoutez ensuite le brocoli et faites suer encore pendant 2 à 3 min.
- Ajoutez le lait de coco et le bouillon, et cuisez pendant 10 min.
- Salez et poivrez, puis mixez la soupe dans un blender.
- Versez dans des bols et ajoutez 1 càc d’oeufs de saumon par soupe, ainsi que la coriandre fraîche hachée. Versez un filet d’huile d’olive et servez sans attendre.
Before I was a little unimpressed with the idea of broccoli in soup (although I do like broccoli well enough.) But this soup with the coconut milk and galangal combined with broccoli sounds just wonderful. And having cilantro is always a bonus for me.!
Agreed. That looks grand. Leave it to you to make broccoli flecks look artistic.
this is a very unusual broccoli soup.Love the Thai flavours going on there.Had to use the broccoli for dinner tonight and now i have the perfect soup recipe…thanks !
Glad you have you back! I hate when trips start like this but thnak goodness the rest of it went smoothly.
What a great great soup!
Having experienced a terminal closure the only time I have ever been at Charles de Gaulle, I couldn’t agree more with going home to a restorative soup. And a beautiful one it is too.
Charles De Gaulle was a mess?
How unusual : )
Glad you made it back okay…Empty aircraft?
Bonne chance!!
splendid~~
and the broccoli soup in the cup looks so beautiful~
just like green gemstone~
what a mess, but this soup looks like it helped to make things all better. glad you made it home safely.
i haven’t made much soup lately, but this seems too goodto give it a miss! i stil have some salmon roe which pille brought me from estonia, so this seems like a great way to use them!
Only you Béa! That looks fabulous! I do love broccoli and I’ve never done it into soup. This looks good enough to do that.
la dernière fois a charles de gaulle c’était la mm chose pour nous!
ta soupe est vraiment réconfortante et très jolie!
Oh qu’elle me plait celle-ci! Et pourtant je ne suis pas fan de la soupe de brocoli habituellement. Tu as raison, rien de tel qu’une bonne soupe maison pour se remettre de ce genre d’aventure.
Lait de coco, coriandre, ça doit sublimer le brocolis à merveille!
Hi Bea, your pictures are always stunning but lately they seem to be somehow brighter, did you change lense or is it just the spring air ; )?
Bea,what gorgeous photos! and lovely soup! brocolli is so delicious, isn’t it?! As for the airport, in England we get an overload of nformation. You would never not be told.Glad you made it back alright.
Moi aussi, ça m’est arrivé la dernière fois à Charles de Gaulle et en plus j’avais ma suite d’étudiants américains qui s’affollent pour un oui ou pour un non. Agréable souvenir. Cette soupe est vraiment original, je n’aurais pas pensé à mettre du lait de coco avec une soupe de brocoli. Les photos sont superbes en plus.
J’aime le vert… une petite soupe qui donne l’eau à la bouche…
I love broccoli every which way it is prepared (but not raw!), your soup may yet turn out to be the best recipe I ever came accross! Thank you so much, can’t wait to cook and taste it. 🙂
Béa, I sincerely commiserate with you. I have flown over the Atlantic so many times, at times with very small kids (four of them). The last five years travelling has become almost unbearable as soon as an airplane is involved. To think I almost was going to fly to Rome or Paris on Thursday, makes me less sad having decided against it, after reading what you went through.
I sincerely think that those thoughtless people who leave bags so nonchalantly standing around should be severly punished. A hefta money fine and some days in prison or at least some serious work fine, benefitting those not as priviledged as them. One can not even begin to imagine how much they take away from time that would be better served to watch out for the real dangers.
Safe travels to all,
Merisi
J’adore le brocolis et cette soupe a l’air succulente. Les photos sont particulièrement belles, l’association des couleurs est très harmonieuse.
Broccoli soup with salmon eggs!!! Wow, wow, wow Bea….now this takes a simple green soup up a notch! I *heart* salmon eggs….greedy person that I am for anything to do with fish!
Thanks for the recipe — I love broccoli! I was once in CDG when they blew up a bag while were were IN the terminal. I was standing next to my son-in-law to be and the explosion startled me so much I almost jumped into his arms, like in one of those cartoon explosions. Glad you got home.
Très intéressante ta recette et superbement mise en image…j’aime beaucoup ! Me reste à trouver du galangal !
Bien à toi
verO
Hi Bea,
Your photos always pique my interest and my appetite even when I am feeling sickkie like now with a sore throat and headache. I love broccoli soup and will definitely try your recipe tomorrow, should soothe my sore throat non? Thanks!
How is it that you make brocolli so appetizing. Great pictures , as usual!
Wow, I usually make broccoli soup with onions and a little cheddar cheese, I’ve never thought of putting those other delicious ingredients in the soup instead. I will have to try this.
When I was at Charles De Gaulle last March, with about a dozen students from my school (we were between 15-17 years old) we were really shocked to see armed guards. I also saw the police tackle a guy and take him away in a van, it was really weird for me. Definitely not something that you see in Canada. Pearson International Airport in Toronto is a pretty easy going place compared to CDG or American airports (I assume), even after the increase in paranoia and fear. I’m sorry you had to wait so long for your flight, but I do feel kind of bad for the silly people who left their luggage behind. The soup looks great, though!
Hi~ the soup looks beautiful, and so do those oval glass ramekins! Can you tell me where they are from?
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Wow, This sounds like something you would see at El Bulli.
I will definetly give it a shot.
Bonjour Béa,
J’ai une question sur l’un des ingrédients de cette soupe, qui me fait venir l’eau à la bouche juste à la voir (un grand nombre de vos photos me font cet effet !) : qu’est ce que la poudre de galangal ? Merci.
What a delightful dish. Almost too beautiful to eat!
Glad to hear you are back fine and well despite a bomb scare! I love broccoli, in soup or otherwise, but I have never had it with galangal and ginger and coconut milk. Sounds delicious! I have fresh galangal now, so I’ll be saving this recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
Hey…my wife made broccoli soup the other night! great minds 😀
welcome back bea! i love that green soup! very interesting with the infusion of coconut milk …and need i say more? lovely as ever!
Thank you, once more, for your comments! I loved reading about your experiences in similar situations!
Elarael, the glasses come from Genevieve Lethu, a kitchen store in France.
Marie, le galanga est une racine, comme le gingembre. Cela s’achete frais ou en poudre.
Voir description ici, source Wikipedia:
noueux très utilisé dans la cuisine de Thaïlande, de Malaisie et d’Indonésie. Sa saveur légèrement piquante remplace souvent le gingembre dans de nombreux plats. On trouve aussi une deuxième espèce beaucoup plus rare, le petit galanga, qui se mange plutôt en légume. On trouve le galanga en tranches fraîches ou séchées, entier ou en poudre dans les épiceries orientales.
Le galanga (Alpinia galanga) fait partie de la famille des Zingibéracées.
Merci a tous, encore une fois!
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This really looks and sounds delicious! I’ve just discovered your blog today, and it was a great find! I loved reading your posts on Peru, and the last few posts about France!
De si belles photos, c’est à peine croyable…
Exquisite verrine Bea! My favorite colors too.
I’d not idea is was that bad at CDG…I’ve been lucky so far 🙁
If you wanna chat at 4AM, I am ALWAYS on French time no matter where 🙂
absolument irrésistible cette version: le lait de coco, je ne l’ai jamais associé au brocolis et moi qui cuisine très régulièrement ce dernier, ça me donne des idées!
Je savais que tu saurais mettre ces cuillère en valeur. Ah que j’aime tes photos et tes recettes. Bisous.
your photography is absolutely amazing. this website is beautiful and your recipes look gorgeous.
Exactly what I have been craving for. I can’t wait to try this when I get home tonight.
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