Soup storm, part 'quatre'

Are you wondering how high I can count in French? I am.

This is my latest production. I can hear the bravos coming from all over the US, GB, and even parts of Asia. I would like to thank my spouse, Peter, my cast (wait, there was no cast), the guy who changes the oil in my car, my manicurist (a very handy person to have around.) and the people who grew all my food. Oh, and the guy who didn't order any dried shiitake mushrooms for the shelves at the Giant: thanks a LOT pal. Gosh, this statue is heavy.

Here's the script:

Coconut soup (4 first course servings)
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
3 very large white mushrooms, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 Thai chile, seeded and minced
2 scallions, minced
13.5 oz can coconut milk (that's the size Goya makes now – advantage Goya)
8 oz. clam juice (still the standard size – advantage me)
1 1/2 cup dashi broth (comes as a powder concentrate – mfg/me in a draw)
1 inch piece galangal
juice of ½ lime
2 tsp fish sauce
1 heaping Tbs pickled ginger, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro for garnish
avocado and sesame oil (optional)

Melt the butter in the olive oil in a saute pan large enough to hold all the ingredients. Drop in the mushrooms and stir to coat with the butter and oil. Saute until they have given up their moisture, salting and peppering about halfway through (after maybe 4 minutes).

Add the coconut milk, the clam juice, dashi broth, Thai chile, scallions, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, pickled ginger, and salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand until completely cooled. Refrigerate to chill and remove 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with cilantro, a few slices of avocado, and a few drops of sesame oil if desired.

Originally intended to be served with shrimp, but horses were changed.

Salmon cakes

No recipe for this; you can find a million of them via Google. All I did was add some celery, jalapeno, Dijon, bread crumbs soaked in milk and a bit of mayo to help them bind.

Grilled radicchio and endive

Nice fresh hunk 'o radicchio at Safeway this morning, as well as a nice piece of endive. Brush with oil and color them up in a grill pan or saute pan. I dressed mine with a touch of citrus vinaigrette.