Mushroom soup

Mushrooms are typically an autumn crop (thus the photo), but soups are really a nice comfort food, especially in these long winter months. While living in Ireland I was given this delicious recipe for mushroom soup, I make it from time to time and always love it.

Mushroom soup

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Shallot

1/2 pound Mushrooms (I use crimini)

2 cloves of garlic (according to taste)

1 slice smoked bacon

2 Tbsp Parsley (fresh if possible)

1 Thick slice of bread (brown preferably, cut into small pieces)

1.5 pint Chicken stock

A pinch of freshly grated Nutmeg

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 pint Cream or Milk

Method

Wash the mushrooms (do not peel or remove the stalks), cut them in small pieces.

Finely chop the shallot.

In a large pan pour the olive oil on medium heat and soften the shallot, add the mushroom pieces and let them soften for a few minutes.

Add the garlic finely cut (or crushed), the slice of bacon thinly sliced and 1 Tbsp of parsley.

Let it all stew for a few minutes then add the slice of bread and chicken stock and simmer for a further 15 mn or more. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Liquidise then add the cream or milk, re-heat and serve with 1 Tbsp of fresh parsley.

Creamless "creamy" leek soup

Back in September we went to a BBQ at Steve and Becky's farm and toured their beautiful vegetable garden, I was amazed at the amount of leeks they had, they looked really healthy (compared with mine who suffered the Beaver spell) and I exclaimed "leek soup, you have to make leek soup with these beauties".

Fast forward and every time I see Steve he reminds me I have to send him my leek soup recipe. So finally it is here, the weather we are experiencing at the moment is very conducive (5 days of non stop rain) to having soup and curling up by the fire.

Creamless "creamy" leek soup

For 4 servings

Ingredients

2 TBSP olive oil

2 lbs leek (approx.)

4 cloves of garlic

1 shallot

1/2 cup dry white wine (I always keep a stock of these small wine bottles for cooking)

3 to 4 cups chicken broth (or water and 1 bouillon cube)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Remove the root and trim the top off the leeks (if you buy them usually they are already trimmed, in this case just cut half an inch off to remove the dried out part), wash the leeks then slice/chop them.

In a cast iron (or other) pot pour 1 or 2 spoon full of olive oil and turn on the heat to medium, pour the cut out leeks over and sweat them for 20 mn or so until tender. Half way through add the garlic and shallot peeled and thinly sliced.

When the bottom of the pot starts browning add the white wine to deglaze and stir. Then pour the chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste and let the soup simmer for 30mn or so.

Taste to see if cooked through.

At this point you can either serve as is or, as I did, use the immersion blender and blend the soup.

You obtain a very thick and creamy soup without the guilt factor of the cream.

Serve with a sprinkle of freshly cut parsley.

Bon appétit!

Secret ingredient: Lemon - Part 1

Here in the US there is a TV show called the Iron Chef where a few chefs are competing with a limited amount of time to prepare a few dishes and just as they are about to start they are given a "secret ingredient" by the judges to be included in all the different dishes.
The last dinner we hosted I decided to have my own "secret ingredient" and to integrate it in all my dishes.

This secret ingredient was Lemon.

And the first dish was a Velvety Asparagus Soup with a tinge of lemon
For 6
Ingredients
2 bunches of fresh asparagus (I used green ones)
1 medium size shallot, peeled and chopped
6 pints of chicken broth (or 6 pints of water and 1 chicken broth cube)
Zest of 1/4 of a lemon (you don't want to overpower the soup with lemon)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 TBSP Olive oil
1.5 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Wash and peel the asparagus, the easiest way is to use a potato peeler with the swivel head and rest the asparagus flat on a board.
Cut the heads of and reserve them.
Cut the stems in approx. 2"/5cm long sticks.
In a cast iron pot (or other) on high heat fry the shallot in a bit of olive oil, then add the asparagus sticks, after 5 mn pour the chicken broth/water + cube, add salt and pepper to taste and grate 1/4 of a lemon zest and add the juice of half a lemon and let simmer covered on gentle heat for 30mn or so.
While it is simmering steam the asparagus heads in a separate pot, do not overcook, they should be a bit crunchy (5 to 8mn should be enough).
Prepare a "roux" in a separate pot: melt 1.5 TBSP butter, sprinkle 2 TBSP flour and whisk, then use a ladle to pour some of the simmering broth on the butter/flour mix and whisk adding more broth as needed till you obtain a smooth liquid custard looking mix.
Blend the simmering asparagus soup with a hand held blender then pour the custard looking mix in the blended asparagus and let cook for another 10mn.
When ready to serve place asparagus heads cut in 2 length ways in the soup and serve immediately.

Note
I like using the cast iron pot for this as it cooks using less energy since it retains the heat better, it looks nice as a serving dish and keeps the soup hot and it is convenient as you do not need to transfer the soup to another container.

Elixir du jour

Too many good meals can add pounds and inches or should I say kilos and centimeters? which is twice as bad! To counteract this, especially approaching the summer (at least we hope it will eventually come, after 3"of snow last Saturday I start having doubts) a light meal is always a safe option. And what can be more satisfying than a home made vegetable soup. I have seen my Mom and Grand Mother make this recipe many a time and have adopted it myself as it is so easy to make and so tasty.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

2 medium size potatoes

2 or 3 leeks

6 good size carrots

1 big onion

3 or 4 garlic cloves

Salt and Pepper

Method

Peel and clean all vegetables and chop them.

Sweat the vegetables in a bit of olive oil in a cast iron pot or other on high heat, then cover totally with water and more, salt and pepper to taste, keep in mind that it's always easier to add seasoning later, I also add celery seeds that give a nice taste.

Cover and let it simmer for at least one hour.

I like my soup without chunks so I always blend it.

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or pour some milk and grate some Swiss Emmentaler on top and a slice of home made bread.

Bon appétit

Cinderella soup...

For the past couple of months I had this butternut squash hiding in the kitchen always avoiding the deadly blade of my sharp Sabatier knives, well tonight I finally caught it and threw a spell on it, that turned it into... not a pumpkin, but a delicious soup. You see winter seems to have come back here (after a false attempt at summer last Saturday with temperatures up to 27 C) and what better way to ward off the winter blues than a warm squash soup?

Pumpkin soup

Ingredients

1 medium size squash

6 garlic cloves not peeled

2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 pinch of cumin powder

3 pinches of freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh parsley for decoration

Mix of sour cream and fresh cream (should be liquid)

Method

Peel and remove the seeds from the squash then dice it

Place squash dices in an oven proof dish and sprinkle with olive oil

Place unpeeled cloves of garlic on top of squash

Bake in pre-heated oven 395 F for 40 mn, after approx. 20mn remove the garlic and set aside, toss the squash to ensure it is cooked through out and is not burning.

While squash is finishing to bake, in Le Creuset Dutch oven or any pan with thick bottom pour some olive oil and lightly brown the thinly sliced shallots adding the cumin and nutmeg, then pour over the squash adding chicken stock or water to cover completely (if you do not have readily available chicken stock 1 or 2 cubes of chicken stock in the water will be just as fine).

Add peeled roasted garlic then salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer for 30mn to an hour then use the immersion blender to purée the soup.

At this point taste the soup and adjust seasoning, a little brown sugar can enhance the taste.

Serve hot with cream mix, additionally you can sprinkle a bit of freshly cut parsley for presentation.

I usually freeze the left over (if any!), for the next winter day...

Enjoy