Wordless Wednesday - Ramen.... Italian Style

Mangia!!
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Merry Mushrooms - Mushroom Soup

I will be the first to admit that I love mushrooms and cream together.  Whether it's homemade Cream of Mushroom soup, Mascarpone and Mushrooms tossed with Rigatoni, Mushroom Gravy over Biscuits (an excellent alternative to sausage gravy), or Mushroom Chowder, I love them all.  Every once in a while though, when I'm in a 'shroom mood, dairy just doesn't sound appetizing at ALL.

That is when I turn to this brothy version of mushroom soup. It's super simple and positively delicious; especially when the chilly grip of autumn begins to seep into your bones, like today.... This soup really heats up your core... sending waves of warmth radiating through your chilled limbs. 

Brothy Mushroom Soup

1 lb Crimini Mushrooms, sliced
1 oz dried Shiitake mushrooms, Stems removed
1 1/2 oz Carrot, shredded
2 oz Shallot, minced
1 1/2 oz Celery, chopped
1 oz Leek, sliced
3 oz Bacon, Chopped
2 TB Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup White Wine
4 Cups Chicken Stock (though Vegetable will work too)
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
1 tsp dried Chervil
Celery Leaves to garnish

Slice all the Crimini mushrooms.

Remove the stems from the Shiitake.

Shred, mince, chop and slice all the vegetables, respectively.
Chop the bacon.

OK, now your ready.
In a medium soup pot, cook bacon over medium heat until the fat renders out.

Remove bacon from the pot.

Add the vegetables and saute in the bacon fat until tender.....

Remove vegetables.

Melt 2 TB Butter in the bottom of the pot.

Add the Crimini mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until they begin to cook down.(about 10 minutes)

Add the dried Shiitake, Wine, Chicken Stock, Vegetables and Bacon back to the pot.

Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Adjust seasoning with Kosher Salt and Black Pepper and stir in the Chervil.
Serve with Celery Leaves.

Now if I only had a big ol' crusty sourdough baguette.  

Mangia!!
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Hot Soup, Literally - Tom Kha Het

It has been a surprisingly wet and cold summer so far.  Oh, there have been a few hot days here and there, in particular around the 4th of July.  But for the most part, it has been chilly and wet.  To me, cool and damp means soup time.

Soup has the extraordinary ability to warm the cockles of your heart.  This particular soup, however, has the power to warm you from head to toes with it's chili laced goodness.  I speak of the luxurious Tom Kha, basically Coconut Galangal Soup.  Granted you can make it with Chicken (Tom Kha Kai) or Seafood (Tom Kha Thale) and even Amy's Organics makes a vegetable version (Tom Kha Phak), but I prefer the much more subtle flavor of mushrooms, thus this is Tom Kha Het.

It's truly a delightful soup.  Creamy, gingery deliciousness permeated with the tang of lime and lemon grass and laced with the fruity heat of Thai Chilies.  OK, now I am hungry again... so I am gonna sneak another bowl.  Be right back.

Tom Kha Het

(Coconut Galangal Mushroom soup)

2 cups Chicken Stock (or Vegetable)
2 cans Coconut Milk, divided
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 oz Lemongrass, sliced thinly
2 Kaffir Lime Leaves, sliced thinly and divided
4 dried Thai Chilies, seeds removed and thinly sliced
1 inch Galangal, sliced, or rather chipped
2 oz White Onion, diced
4 oz Carrot, cut on the bias
6 oz Napa Cabbage, shredded
8 oz Mushrooms, sliced (if using straw mushrooms, don't slice them)
1 can of Baby Corns, cut into thirds
Juice of 2 Limes
2 TB Nam Pla (Fish Sauce)
1/2 oz Cilantro Leaves

First you need to chop and slice everything up, cause this is a quick soup.

Combine Garlic, Lemongrass, 1/2 of the shredded Lime leaves, Thai Chilies and Galangal in a medium saucepan.

Add Chicken Stock and 1 can of the Coconut Milk.

Place over medium flame and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the "broth" into a larger pot to remove the woody Lemon grass and Galangal.

Add the remaining can of Coconut Milk and bring back to a simmer again.

Once the broth is simmering, add the Onion, Carrot, Napa Cabbage, remaining Kaffir Lime leaves and Mushrooms.

Cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes to cook the vegetables.

Add Baby Corns and simmer 2 minutes longer to warm them through.

Finish off with Lime Juice

and Nam Pla.

Spoon into a bowl and serve with a sprinkling of Cilantro leaves.

Mangia!!
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Foraging On The Forest Floor - Creamy Nettle Soup

I always have been, and probably always will be, a Mountain Man.  Not necessarily in a Grizzly Adams or creepy survivalist sort of way.  More of a "this is where I find peace" sort of way.  I know this, simply because I spent 15 years in San Diego, minus the 2 years I lived in Palm Springs.

I can hear you saying, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Basically this;  I lived in what is suppose to be "America's Finest city"; and with some massive infrastructure upgrades, it just might be.  I was surrounded by sand, palm trees and sun.  Yet I think I spent a total of 5 hours at the beach in 15 years I lived down there.  For when I needed to relax and decompress, leaving behind the stresses of everyday life, I traveled 45 miles outside the city to Julian or Alpine.  While living in Palm Springs yet again, I drove 35 miles outside the city to either Big Bear or Idyllwild.

What do all these places have in common?  They are all perched atop mountains, far from the Dessert floor or the Ocean waves and, more importantly, far from the insanity of freeways, potholes, broken sewer lines spewing into the bay, rush hour traffic, sink holes and rude people.  Yes, my solace was to be found above 4000 feet.  None of those crashing ocean wave ions for me.  Give me the scent of clean crisp air, trees and moist leaf litter.  (Did you know palm trees don't smell? At least , *I* can't smell them. Odd, huh?) 

So, now I am safely enveloped in a protective screen of Hemlock, Alder, Western Red Cedar, Spruce, Douglas Fir, Yew, Dogwood, Broad leaf and Vine Maple with a scattering of Elder.  (it smells SO good outside, especially when it rains) Now I won't lie to you.  Their is a price to be paid for all this vibrantly verdant vegetal goodness...  Rain.

It rains a lot in the Pacific NW.  (We don't call it the "Great North WET" for nothin') As a matter of fact, that was part of the reason I left Oregon to begin with.  I was experiencing, what I thought was, Seasonal Affected Disorder.  What better place than sunny San Diego, right?  I have come to the conclusion that it was an age thing though.  Granted, I have only been back for a little over a year.  But, it's been pretty darn wet and overcast to the point where the lack of sunlight has caused me to become so pale, that I swear I will glow if exposed to black light.  But, I have not been experiencing any sort of depression. Maybe I outgrew it, maybe I was just experiencing a vitamin D deficiency and didn't know it, or maybe I am just so glad to have my mountains and trees back that it compensates for the effects of gloomy overcast skies broken only by the pervasive patter of precipitation.  (Or, I was just a young punk who didn't know how good he had it and thought the grass was "greener" on the other side of the fence)  LOL

But rain and S.A.D. aside......

The time has finally come.  There have been a few precious breaks in the clouds, releasing the rays of that ever elusive orange orb in the sky.  This has caused a western Oregon phenomenon to occur, for the harbingers of our rainy spring have "sprung" forth from their winter hibernation.... The Trilliums.

Once the trilliums bloom, many foresty things begin to happen...  Most of them are edible too.  Woo Hoo!!!   For starters, it's time to pick Morel mushrooms.  YUM!  The other exciting thing is the gathering of the nettles.  For they too, have begun their slow and methodical take-over of every empty patch of forest floor.  Poking their little heads through the forest hummus.  (Please wear gloves)

So armed with a heaping bowl of nettles, picked during one of the cloud cover's less drippy moments, I embarked upon one of my favorite foods when it's cold and wet...  Soup.

For nettles make awesome soup fodder.  Normally I would make Nässelsoppa which is a lively Scandinavian combination of nettle puree, beef stock, cream and chives to be served with a sliced boiled eggs on the side.  But I decided to take a queue from those clever Greeks and mix it up a little by putting the egg IN the soup this time.  Think Avgolemono soup, but with Cream, Nettles and an elusive hint of Saffron grassiness.   It's like a sunshine dappled forest in a bowl.

Creamy Nettle and Saffron Soup

4 cups (950 ml) Chicken Stock
1/8 tsp Saffron Threads (a pinch)
4 oz (110g) Nettle tops
Water as Kosher Salt for Blanching
2 large Egg Yolks
Lemon juice, to taste (About 1/2 of a medium lemon)
1/4 cup (60 ml) Heavy Cream
Kosher Salt
White Pepper

Soak the nettles in salted water for 10 minutes before drying in a salad spinner.

Heat the chicken stock in a medium pot, adding the saffron as the stock begins to warm.

(Yes, it's time to break out the precious saffron; but you only need a little bit.)  :)

In a separate pot, begin heating some salted water over high heat.

Once the Stock and Saffron come to a boil, remove from the flame and let set for 4 minutes before scooping out the threads. (this is a personal preference. I love saffron, but I don't like biting into the threads)

Using tongs (to keep from feeling the sting) plunge nettles into the salted boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes.

Remove from the water and spin in the salad spinner again, to remove excess water. (you can chop them if you like, but I like the whole tops floating in the soup)

In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with lemon juice until pale.

Whisk a ladle-ful of the hot stock into the yolk mixture to condition the yolks. (I always whisk in a second ladle-ful just to be on the safe side)

Whisk the egg mixture back into the stock.

Then stir in the cream.

Add the blanched Nettles,

Then gently reheat over low flame, without boiling or it will curdle.

Season with White Pepper and Kosher Salt to taste.

You may need to adjust the acidity of the soup by adding a little more lemon juice....  I had a small lemon, so I resorted to using the whole thing, instead of only half of it.

Then serve.

Mangia!!
~~

Somethin' For Your Chow Chow To Chow On - Cheesy Vegetable Chews

First, I must apologize for being MIA over the last couple weeks.  Yeah, I posted about Consomme and Eggs in Aspic (Ouefs en Gelee) but that was not without it's difficulties.  My Mac crashed (dead hard drive) so I was forced to bring my old Titanium 500 back into service again.  Yeah right.  The thing is antique and the operating system (Panther) is positively ancient.  Thus, due to the overwhelming amount of Flash all over the net, it was impossible to navigate anywhere or "see" anything.  The two posts I DID succeed in releasing took 3 hours to type up cause I kept loosing my connection through the decrepit airport card.  On top of that, I had to re-learn how to use the old version of Gimp to edit my photos which took an additional couple of hours to process. (sigh) Don't get me started on trying to check Facebook or anything else for that matter. 

I guess I should count myself lucky that the poor old thing worked at all at this point.  Luckily, and finally, I now have a new hard drive in my Aluminum 1.67 and life is good again.  Un-luckily, nothing on my old hard drive was salvage-able, so every photo I have taken is suddenly gone (Insert sound of flushing toilet).  But it is time to stop lamenting and get back to the main topic.

Dog Treats....... (though in a pinch, they are consumable by humans)

Just like humans, dogs need vegetables to stay healthy.  And while most dog foods DO contain some form of vegetable matter, it usually consists for the more questionable "vegetables" such as Potatoes, Corn or Peas; all of which are extremely high in starch.  While I realize that the FDA lumps all of these into the vegetable group, being why school lunches often include French Fries or Tater Tots (Insert eye roll), this is the same organization that deemed Nutrasweet to be safe for human consumption.

FDA charlatans aside, I figured it would be a good way to mix up the textures a little as well.  I have already made 2 hard and crunchy treats as well as crisp yet airy pumpkin treats, so I decided to mix it up a little further and go for a more chewy texture.  This was made infinitely easier by the inclusion of vegetables, though the cheese lent a proverbial hand as well.  :)   Some healthy Quick Oats and that hint of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese along with vitamin A rich Carrot and some vibrantly verdant Spinach and we have a winner. 

Cheesy Chicken Vegetable Chews

1 1/2 cup Barley Flour
1 cup Quick Oats
1/ 4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
2/3 cup shredded Carrot
1/2 cup frozen Spinach, measured after thawing and squeezing out the water
1/2 -3/4 cup Chicken Stock

Combine Barley Flour, Quick Oats and Parmigiano-Reggiano in a bowl, whisk together well.

Add Spinach and shredded Carrot in a blender jar.

Add 1/3 cup of chicken stock and blend into a puree... Add up to an additional 1/4 cup of chicken stock if the mix is too dry to puree properly.

Add the Vegetable/Stock puree to the dry ingredients.

Stir until well combined and a soft sticky dough forms.

Grab a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon.

Spoon small balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Fill a small glass cold water and grab a fork.

Dip the fork in the water and then press a crosshatch pattern in the "cookies" just like you would for Peanut butter cookies.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks,

if you need them to last longer, store in the refrigerator.

I promise - my next post will be human food.... Gruyere scones to be exact.  I realize that over the last couple months about 50% of my posts have "gone to the dogs", but let me assure you, I am steering back towards Human consumables...  LOL

Mangia!!
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