soupnancy

Asian style soup

First you need a flavorful light stock. A homemade duck, chicken, oxtail or beef stock is ideal. You can also make a good vegetable stock with onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms, some dried porcini or shitake.... If you use canned stock, I would definately add some vegetables or meat to the soup and watch the soy so that it doesn’t turn out to salty.

You make the soup base, then you can add noodles, wontons or julienned vegetables, a tofu or meat garnish, whatever you like. You can make it more like a hot and sour by adding some sherry vinegar or rice wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar and more chili. This can be served as a meal too, just pump up the garnish ...

4L ( 12 p)

225g mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp minced shallot or onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 tsp minced ginger root

s.q. chili paste (like Sambal or Sriracha)

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp Chinese five spice or (star anise, coriander seed, cinnamon, fennel, peppercorn)

1tsp black bean paste

3 L Duck or chicken stock or beef stock or vegetable stock

1 c Bok choy or Napa cabbage, sliced thinly

2 Tbsp hoisin

1Tbsp fish sauce

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

¼ c coriander leaves, chopped

1 bunch scallions, chopped

2c fresh bean sprouts

3c par-cooked rice noodles or wontons

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. tamari

Sauté mushrooms, lower heat, add shallot or onion and cook a few minutes to soften. Add garlic, ginger, black bean paste and spices. After a minute, add stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, the hoisin and season to taste. You might want to add a little vinegar or more lime, some tamari or soy, more chili or a pinch of sugar. Then add the cabbage, and any meat or vegetable garnish you are adding. Add your cooked noodles. You could use pre-cooked wontons instead. When hot throughout, check seasoning and serve, generously garnishing bowls with fresh coriander, scallions, and bean sprouts.

All of these can can be served as an accompaniment or as a main dish.

Mushroom Barley Stew

8p (main)

400 g fresh mushrooms, sliced

15g dried porcini, rehydrated, chopped (reserve liquid)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, diced

3 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 c red wine

1 L beef stock (or mushroom stock)

1 c barley, rinsed (mondé, not pearl)

2c chopped tomatoes with juice (1 can)

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

½ tsp worchesterchire

1 cup carnaroli or arborio rice, rinsed

1 tsp chopped rosemary or sage (or half dried)

s.q. salt, pepper

60 ml cream or sour cream (optional)

Boil water (min. 1 L). Parcook barley 10 minutes, drain.

Sauté mushrooms in olive oil, when colored, add butter.

Add chopped vegetables, and stir, allowing to caramelize a little.

Add garlic, after a minute, deglaze with vinegar and wine, cook down, add worchesterchire.

Add beef stock and herbs, bring to a simmer, add parcooked barley and tomatoes.
Cook 30 minutes, or until barley is done and stew is thick.

Finish with cream if desired, season to taste.


Mushroom Leek Risotto

8p

2 c carnaroli or arborio rice, rinsed

15 g dried mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 L of hot water

120 g fresh mushrooms,diced

1 leek, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c white wine

1 L chicken stock

100ml cream

2 Tbsp butter

½ c grated parmesan

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. olive oil

Sauté fresh mushrooms in olive oil. When colored, add rice and leek, lower heat. Cook, stirring until rice is well coated and leek is translucent. Add garlic. A minute later, deglaze with wine, cook down.

Drain rehydrated mushrooms, keeping liquid. Decant, and add to rice. Add stock, cook over low heat, stirring regularly for 20-25 min.

When rice is tender but still holding its shape, add cream. Minutes later, take off heat and stir in butter and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Mushroom Root vegetable gratin

12p

11x13 baking dish

3 potatoes, sliced thinly

1 celery root, sliced thinly

2 L thinly sliced vegetables of choice ( 3 parsnips and/or parsley root, 2 beets or 6 sunchokes or 2 carrots, 1 small butternut squash)

4 Tbsp flour

2 french shallots, minced

2 Tbsp mixed herbs (any combination of thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley)

s.q. salt, pepper

1 c grated cheese (swiss, cheddar, parm...)

2 c chicken stock

100 mlcream

s.q. butter

Butter baking dish. Place potato and celery root slices, overlapping, to form bottom layer.

Toss other sliced root vegetables with shallots and herbs, season generously with salt and pepper. Mix in cheese and flour. Layer evenly over potatoes. Top with a layer of potato slices. Pour chicken stock and cream over top.

Bake at 400F for 1 hour, or until a knife comes out clean.

Serve right away, or refrigerate and press (with aluminum foil and a weight like a can of tomatoes) to portion into nice squares the next day, before reheating.

Mushroom Squash Shephard’s pie

12 p

(11x13 casserole dish)

1 kg fresh mushrooms (or a combination of fresh and dry, rehydrated), chopped

1 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp thyme, rosemary

1 Tbsp tamari

1 tsp worchesterchire

2 Tbsp sherry vinegar

1 L corn kernels

1 large butternut squash, halved and seeded

2 potatoes, peeled and quartered

2 Tbsp butter

¼ c breadcrumbs

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. olive oil

Roast butternut squash at 400F flesh side down on a roasting pan with a little olive oil for 45 min, until soft. Remove flesh and mash or purée in a food processor.

Meanwhile boil potatoes in salted water for 30 min. or until tender. Drain and steam dry. Pass through a food mill or mash well. Combine well with butternut squash and butter.

Sauté mushrooms in olive oil. Add onion, lower heat and cook 10-15 minutes until onions are nicely soft and caramelized. Add garlic, stir a minute, deglaze with sherry vinegar, add tamari and worchesterchire and remove from heat.

Butter baking dish. Spoon in mushroom mixture and press down evenly. Add corn kernels evenly over top. Spoon butternut squash – potato mix over. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Bake at 400F for 1 hr. until hot throughout and crusty on top, serve.

Mushroom Polenta

12 p

(11x13 baking dish)

2 c polenta

1L milk

1L water

1 tsp salt

1 kg mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or sherry vinegar

1 Tbsp thyme and rosemary

2 oz butter

2 c grated mixed cheese with at least a little parmesan in there

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. extra virgin olive oil

Generously butter baking dish.

Sauté mushrooms in olive oil. When nicely colored, add garlic and lower heat. Cook a few minutes, add herbs, and deglaze with vinegar, season, reserve.

Heat water and milk to a boil, add polenta in a slow, steady stream, lower heat, and stir continously until mixture is thick and starts to come off sides of the pot (15-20 min). Cook a few minutes longer, remove from heat, add butter and salt, toss in cheese.

Stir mushrooms into polenta and spoon into dish. After a few minutes, it will have set enough to portion and still serve hot. Otherwise, refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut into nice portions and reheat. You can reheat in the oven, or coat with flour and pan-fry for a crispy exterior and melting interior...

Mushroom cheese crepes or quesadillas or ravioli, even pizza...

8p

1 lb (454g) mushrooms (you can use a combination of fresh and dried, rehydrated)

2 french shallots, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp mixed herbs (thyme and rosemary or tarragon or dill or basil or parsley or sage....)

100 ml white wine

1 c ricotta

¼ c parmesan (you could replace the ricotta and parmesan with any cheese mixture that is a combination of soft and hard, use Brie or gorgonzola and cheddar or Emmenthal or Parm or Asiago or..)

2 eggs

¼ c breadcrumbs

*Add sautéed cubed zucchini or butternut squash, and/or bell peppers, artichokes, anything you want...as long as it is not too wet, to the final mixture.

Sauté mushrooms in olive oil. Add herbs, deglaze with white wine. Remove from heat. Stir in egg, and then the cheese and breadcrumbs.

Use as a stuffing in crepes that you will bake or in quesadillas (tortillas) that you will fry or in ravioli that you will boil. Or spread on a pizza shell or bread and bake.

Beef or venison tartare with porcini

8 p (entrée size portions)

400 g filet of beef or venison

2 french shallots, minced

200 g fresh or frozen porcini (or any other mushroom), finely diced

2 Tbsp dijon

4 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp porcini oil (or a couple of drops of truffle oil)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. lemon

s.q. tabasco, worchesterchire

s.q. olive oil

Sauté mushrooms in olive oil, when colored and cooked through, season and allow to cool.

Just before service, finely chop meat. If not serving immediately, coat with oil and refrigerate.

When assembling for service, add mushrooms to meat, add dijon, shallots, fresh herbs, extra virgin olive oil (if you haven’t already), mushroom oil and seasonings. Rectify. Serve immediately, on croutons or toast....

(At the restaurant, we use wild ginger mustard and sea lettuce salt, and use boletus oil, but it is good without all the wild stuff too....)

Squash salad with chanterelles

8 portions (entrée or light lunch)

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

400g chanterelles (and/or black trumpet mushrooms)

160g smoked duck (or ham or bacon...), cut into thin strips

8 c arugula or mixed greens

¼ c toasted almonds, chopped

Vinaigrette:

75 ml cider or sherry vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 Tbsp minced french shallot

30 ml maple syrup

150ml extra virgin olive oil

30 ml walnut oil (or any nut oil), optional

s.q. salt, pepper

Make vinaigrette by blending all ingredients. Peel and seed the butternut squash, and cut into julienne (thin strips) using a mandolin. It needs to be cut thin because it will be served raw. Marinate with some of the vinaigrette at least a couple of hours to soften slightly.

In a hot pan, sauté the mushrooms in some olive oil. When nice and brown, remove from the heat and toss with some vinaigrette.

Toss greens with a little vinaigrette, and assemble salad. Form a colorful base with the squash, scatter the mushrooms and duck over, top with greens, and sprinkle with almonds.

Mushroom and corn chowder with spinach

4 L (12 portions)

Ingredients:

1 small onion, diced

1/2 leek, chopped fine

1 stalk celery, minced

500g mushrooms, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

pinch chili flakes, thym, caraway seeds

1 c corn kernels

2 diced potatoes

10g dried boletus or porcini, rehydrated

100ml white wine

2L chicken stock

250ml heavy cream

2c spinach, chopped

2Tbsp chopped dill and/or parsley

s.q. milk

s.q. olive oil

s.q. salt, pepper

s.q. lemon juice

Rehydrate dried mushrooms in hot water for at least 20 minutes, while you prepare other vegetables. Chop mushrooms, decant soaking liquid and reserve.

In a soup pot, sauté fresh mushrooms in olive oil. When colored, add onion, celery and leek. Sweat over low heat for a few minutes. Add garlic and spice.

Deglaze with white wine and cook down. Add stock, potatoes, rehydrated mushrooms and soaking liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are just about fork-tender. Add corn, chopped spinach and cream, simmer 10 more minutes.

Finish with herbs, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Taste and rectify. Thin with milk to desired consistency.

Salted herbs

4 L (8x500ml mason jars)

1 Leek

4 Carrots

3 Parsnips

4 ribs celery

4c Spinach

1 small bulb Fennel

2 bunches Parsley

2 bunches Basil

1 bunch Dill

1 bunch Thyme

1 bunch Rosemary

1 Tbsp Black pepper

2 Tbsp Fennel seed

2 Tbsp Coriander seed

1 tsp All spice

1 Tbsp Juniper berry

Lemon zest (from 2 lemons)

2 c Salt

Dice vegetables very finely. Chop herbs. Grind spices. Grate lemon zest. Mix well all together and layer with salt, store in airtight containers in fridge. Can (in mason jars in boiling water) to keep longer than a month.

My favorite ways with tomatoes

Tomato salad with crinkleroot oil, smoked sea salt and greens, maybe some cheese or a poached egg to take it up a notch.

-Slice tomatoes, drizzle them with some good olive oil. I use crinkleroot oil (wild horseradish) for its arugula like bite. Sprinkle on some sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, a few chili flakes. Dress the greens the same, but with restraint, adding a splash of a good vinegar like balsamic or sherry. Add some fresh mozzarella or some Reggiano, any good cheese. If I want to make it more substancial, I’ll add a poached egg or some garlic toast, some smoked duck or some lardons.

Fresh tomato salsa, “tortilla soup”, and gaspacho

-Halve and seed tomatoes, squeezing out excess juice, and dice. Add some minced shallot, some freshly chopped coriander, a squeeze of lime and/or red wine vinegar, salt, chili, pure or in the form of tabasco, some olive oil. You might want to add a pinch of sugar depending on your tomatoes.

-When I’m alone, I don’t seed or juice them. It makes for watery salsa, but when I’m done, I have this tasty liquid into which I like to dump all the bits of chips from the bottom of the bowl to make “tortilla soup”. It makes a snack into a meal, perfect for midnight after a shift, in front of the TV.

Fresh tomato sauce

-Generally, I prefer a quick cooked tomato sauce, that has that fresh tomato taste, with lots of olive oil. Sometimes, I’ll pump up the mirepoix (vegetable) ratio, add wine, more seasoning, and cook it longer, if I want something more complex, or if I’m adding meat.

-In any case, start by sweating some onions. I usually add a bit of minced carrot and celery, some red pepper. Then garlic, a touch of white wine, good vinegar or lemon juice. Then the spices. I use chili, fennel seed, thyme and oregano. Then go in the tomatoes. Canned is fine, although I usually use half canned, half fresh. If you don’t like skin, then blanch and peel your tomatoes, seed them if you want. You might not want to use all the juice, especially if you won’t be cooking it long. Stick in a bay leaf, even a cinnamon stick if you’re feeling adventurous (particulary good with a pork based sauce). Simmer for 30 min or 1 hour, longer if you’re doing a big batch. Pull out the aromats, douse with a good measure of good olive oil, salt and pepper, and blend.

-With this base, you can play around.....

-add anchovy, olives and capres

-add bacon and mushrooms, (and cream or not)

-add beans, extra peppers and pork or not, spices (cumin, chili, oregano, thyme, cinnamon)

-add curry, yogurt, shrimp or chicken, coriander and coconut

-add tarragon, lemon and cream for mussels, any seafood or chicken

Roast tomatoes as a topping for fish, pasta, even meat

-Halve tomatoes (preferably Roma), toss with olive oil, garlic cloves, herbs of choice, and roast on a baking tray at 400F for 30 minutes. Pull out, peel off the skins if you want, and serve along with the pan juices to dress up fish, meat, pasta or eggs.

-You can do this over a very low heat (160-200F) for hours, and then you have confit, use in the same way.

Ratatouille

-Degorge (slice and salt) your eggplant for at least half an hour. Wipe dry.

Dice up all your vegetables ( 1 onion, 1 eggplant, 2 zucchini, 1-2 red pepper). Mince up 1 celery stick, a couple of cloves of garlic.

-In your big pot, sweat an onion, add a little minced celery, one or two diced bell peppers. Then goes in some minced garlic, some chili flakes, some cumin seeds, maybe some fennel seeds, some thyme, a little rosemary. Deglaze with a ½ cup or so of red wine, and a good shot of red wine vinegar.

-On the side, in a frying pan, saute your eggplant in a good measure of olive oil, toss into big pot. Sauté zucchini in more olive oil, and add to ratatouille. Add a good pinch of salt, sugar and pepper, and allow to simmer for 30min-1 hour. Throw in some fresh basil, and rectify seasoning.

-serve hot or cold, with couscous, pasta, lamb, sausage, eggs or poultry... anything