Paris Mushroom Soup

Happy New Year! It was so nice to take a little internet break and soak up the snowy days nestled on the couch with a few great books and not a few roaring fires. I feel rested and ready to dive into the new year head first. How about you?

I've been cooking up a storm, too as I tend to do this time of year. I know many of you enjoy that most about my blog and my recipe posts were few and far between toward the second half of last year. Thanks so much for following along regardless. My plan is to post at least one recipe per week in 2013.  I added a recipe index at the beginning of last year and I hope to refine it this year to make it a bit easier to navigate. I've also been itching to update the look of the blog, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I thought it would be appropriate to start the year off with a soup recipe: It's comforting and healthy all rolled up in one. This soup is velvety smooth with a rich yet clean flavor. It comes from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table and includes a little "salad" of thinly sliced mushrooms, scallions, parsley and chives that you pour the soup over just before serving. You could skip this part but it really does make the soup all the much better. Don't forget to season it! And again, you could use black pepper over the white, but the white pepper is just that much better with a more subtle flavor.

Paris Mushroom Soup

via Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table 

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 large onions, coarsely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 1/2 pounds white button mushrooms, trimmed, sliced
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 parsley sprigs
1 rosemary sprig
6 cups chicken broth or water

6 large white button mushrooms

2 scallions, thinly sliced (optional)

2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 Tablespoon minced fresh chives

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Creme fraiche or sour cream, optional

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over low heat. Add the onions and garlic and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the mushrooms and the remaining tablespoon of butter, raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms start to release their liquid, about 3 minutes. Increase the heat to high and cook until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 15 to 20 minutes. Pour in the wine and let it boil until it, too, almost evaporates.

Toss the herbs into the pot and add the broth or water. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pot almost completely and cook at a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.

If you can, pull out the rosemary sprig and discard.Working in small batches in a blender or food processor, puree the soup until it is very smooth. Taste and season with salt and white pepper as necessary. Pour the soup back into the pot and heat it gently over low heat until hot. 

Divide the mushrooms, scallions (if using), parsley and chives among six soup plates. Season lightly with salt and white pepper. Ladle the soup into the bowls and top each with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream, if desired.

Chard, Herb and Feta soup

After all this wacky warm weather we've been having, it's hard to look out today and see it so sunny, but know that is only in the 40s. This soup is the perfect answer: It's warming and hearty but packed with veggies and a shockingly vibrant green color so full of spring, it's practically chirping.

Chard, Herb and Feta Soup
via Bon Appetit

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 pound Swiss chard leaves (center ribs and stems removed) or spinach, coarsely chopped (about 10 cups)
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnishes
5 ounces plain Greek-style yogurt (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup mixed chopped herbs (such as parsley, cilantro, and mint), divided
4 ounces feta, crumbled, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh lemon juice (optional)
Olive oil (optional)

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until translucent and soft (do not brown), 7–8 minutes. Stir in chard, broth, parsley, cilantro, fresh and dried mint, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Working in batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth. Return to pan. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm soup before continuing.

Place 1/3 of yogurt in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup warm soup; whisk until smooth. Repeat process twice more, adding a total of 1 cup more soup. Whisk yogurt mixture into soup in saucepan. Stir 1/4 cup herbs and half of feta into soup. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with remaining 1/4 cup herbs and 2 oz. feta. Drizzle with oil, if desired.

Winter blues, spring greens

I've been in quite a blogging funk. If you're a regular around these parts, perhaps you've noticed. Over the past week I even considered pulling the plug on the whole endeavor, having seen several other of my favorite bloggers do the very same this week. But on careful consideration, I realized that it is probably no coincidence that those announcements—and my feelings—came at the peak of the winter doldrums. It does, of course, depend on where you live, but right now in southeast Michigan it has been gray, grey, gray with not nearly enough snow to make it a happy gray and seemingly no end in sight. I've been feeling it and decided that now, in the midst of these wintery blues, is not the best time to make that decision. Instead, I am determined to recommit myself to the health and happiness of this little ol' blog project of mine because it does truly make me happy, and perhaps committing so little to it lately has contributed to my low creatie energy levels, or at least hasn't been there to cheer my moods.

So, in honor of this decision and as a testament to my intentions, I offer you this burst of spring color and flavor: A portioned down recipe for a lovely soup reeking of spring that Dorie Greenspan calls "Cheating on Winter" pea soup. This is not your smoky ham bone split pea, but a bright, light soup made vividly green with frozen peas and romaine lettuce. Don't fear the cooked lettuce — it gets fully pureed and lends a subtle grassiness without any wilted lettuce undertones.  I can't wait to repeat it in the height of pea season and serve it chilled. In the meantime, it's a wonderful promise that spring will indeed come soon enough.

"Cheating on Winter" pea soup

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table

1/2 Tb butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 cups chicken broth, water or vegetable broth
1/2 lb frozen peas (no need to defrost)
1/2 medium head romaine lettuce, sliced (about 4 cups)
Optional garnishes: Sour cream, crumbled cooked bacon

Melt butter in medium Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to boil. Stir in peas and lettuce and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. You'll never fully blend the little pea skins, but get it as smooth as possible. Return soup to pot and season with salt and pepper. (You can thin it with a bit more water or broth if necessary, though my batch was quite thin.)

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and/or bacon.

Corn!!! Can't get enough of it.

Happy Friday, everyone! Wow, it's so hard to believe it's August, you know? I wanted to share with you this photo of our back door. I am in love with this screen door. Sun pours in in the morning and I can see all kinds of luscious green out through the dappled sunlight. Ahhhh.

Well, actually, the real reason I am sharing this photo, is that I have a tasty soup recipe to show you and—after eating it three times this week—I still haven't been able to take a tasty looking photo of it. Ha! Nonetheless, I will plow ahead…

I know you're also thinking, "Soup? In the summer?… I think I'll pass." But if like me you are obsessed with the fresh corn right now you are probably finding yourself buying more than you can possibly eat while it is still fresh. I'm a wee bit of a corn snob and kinda refuse to eat it if I didn't buy it that day from a local farm — maybe one day later, but that's it. No grocery store corn. Can't do it. Extreme, I know, but there it is. So I keep buying more corn when I have day-old corn waiting at home (or even if I think this corn might be better than the corn I bought just minutes before — yikes! What if I miss out?!?). So last weekend with way too much corn on hand to eat on the cob, I made this yummy recipe from Heidi Swanson. It tastes like summery goodness, so even if you make it and freeze a good bit for a cold December day… you should try it!

Corn Soup
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

6 ears corn, husks removed
7 cups water

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pound potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch dice

4 medium shallots, chopped
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. While it is heating cut the kernels off the cobs, reserving them in a bowl. Place the cobs in the boiling water. Turn down to low and simmer while you're prepping the rest of the ingredients, ideally 15-30 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, stir until well-coated, add a big pinch of salt, and saute until the potatoes are cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. When the potatoes are nearly cooked, add the shallots and garlic.

Remove the cobs from the broth when you're ready and add the potato mixture, along with the corn kernels and salt. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. For a chunky soup, puree about half of the soup and pour into a separate bowl as you puree it. Pour the puree back into the remaining chunkier soup and stir to combine. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.

Heidi served this with plain yogurt, salted and a swirl of harissa paste. I took one of her other suggestions though and crumbled a little feta on top and sprinkled with fresh, chopped dill. Yummers!

White Bean and Butternut Squash Soup

After all the snowy, snow snow and ice-itty ice ice and overall general theatrics of this week, I think we could all use a big bowl of belly-warming comfort soup. Yes? This one fit the bill for me this afternoon. It is pure texture— pure velvety goodness. Really, it's just that smooth. And I know, some of you will look at the soaking the beans scenario and say, "Egads, not for me." But don't. It's not that big a deal: Saturday morning, throw those beans in a big ol' pot and fill 'er up with water and go about your day. By the afternoon, you're in business. Dump the water and get on with it! Mmmmm…

Cannelini Bean and Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from The Very Best of Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman

1 pound cannelini  beans
 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, divided and minced
2 1/2 quarts water
1 bay leaf
2-3 each of thyme and parsley
2 sage leaves
Salt to taste
3 leeks, white part only, well washed and chopped
1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeds and membranes removed, and cut into 1" dice
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Rinse your dry beans well in a strainer and pick out any wonky looking ones, dark ones and the like. Place in a large pot and cover with 2 quarts of water. Soak for 6 hours or overnight. Drain.

Combine the bay leaf, thyme, parsley and sage into a little bundle and wrap in cheesecloth. Tie with kitchen string. If you don't have cheesecloth, just tie them all together as securely as possible—you want to be able to remove it easily. (This is called a bouquet garni.)

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat and add the onion. Cook gently until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add 2 of the garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir together for about 30 seconds, then add the drained beans and the water. Bring to a boil,  skimming any foam that rises to the top. Add the bouquet garni, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a wide, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.  Add the remaining garlic and the squash. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant and the squash is coated with oil and just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir into the beans. Add salt to taste and continue to simmer for another hour or so, until the beans and vegetables are thoroughly tender and falling apart. Taste and adjust salt. Remove the bouquet garni.

Working in batches of 1 1/2 to 2 cups, puree the soup in the blender. Do not seal the top tightly as you do this, as the heat may cause pressure to build up. Return to pot and place over medium-low until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve garnished with slivered sage leaves.

Avgolemono: Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice

Avgolemono is a traditional Greek soup made with lemon, egg and broth. I tried this simple recipe for it from Food and Wine over the weekend and it's definitely going into the regular rotation. It's fresh and light, while being deliciously comforting. The most important thing about is to not allow the soup to boil once the egg is added or it will curdle. The easiest way to do this is to heat the broth first, then scoop out a cup or so. Let it cool just a bit and then slowly whisk in the egg and lemon. This is then added back into the larger pot of hot broth. It will become frothy and thicken slightly. Yum!

Avgolemono Chicken Soup with Rice  

from Food and Wine

4 cups homemade chicken stock or low-sodium broth


Salt and freshly ground pepper


2 cups cooked white rice, warmed

2 large egg yolks


1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled from the bones and coarsely shredded (1 pound)


1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

In a large saucepan, season the stock with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Transfer 1 cup of the hot stock to a blender. Add 1/2 cup of the rice, the egg yolks and the lemon juice and puree until smooth. Stir the puree into the simmering stock along with the chicken and the remaining 1 1/2 cups of rice and simmer until thickened slightly, 10 minutes. Stir in the dill and serve.

Note: If you plan to have leftovers, I would add the warm rice as you serve it. I found that if you store it with all the rice added, it absorbs too much of the broth.

Fall soups and harvest

With the weather turning cooler and the leaves starting to change, I've been happy to have on hand a number of soups tucked away in the freezer from spring. It's so nice to be able to warm up a quick bowl of soup for lunch — particularly when you are fighting off a cold from all the wacky weather shifts. I've shared a couple of the recipes with you already, like this one for cauliflower soup. But surprisingly, I haven't posted one of my favorites — the Witches' Brew Soup from Southern Living circa 2001. It was one of the first soups I cooked that made it into my regular rotation.

Witches' Brew Soup
Adapted from Southern Living, October 2001

• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 4 skinned and boned chicken breast halves, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (14-ounce) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3 (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed, drained, and divided
• 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced green onions, cooked and crumbled bacon

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add chicken and next 3 ingredients, and saute 10 minutes. Stir in broth and next 3 ingredients.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Stir in 2 cans of beans and chiles.

Mash remaining can of beans in a small bowl. Whisk together flour and milk, and stir into beans. Gradually add bean mixture to soup mixture, stirring constantly. Cook 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in cilantro. Serve with desired toppings.

In garden balcony news, we harvested our little corns this past weekend. Here is the boy cradling two of our youngins like a proud new papa. Unfortunately, they weren't youngins enough. I think we picked them about three weeks too late. We had two baskets growing and decided to sample one ear from each to compare since the plants in each had progressed quite differently. Well, we each took a bite of our respective samples, quickly spat them out and passed on sampling the second ear. Pure starch and really hard. They looked so much like real, yummy corns that we let them keep growing hoping they would reach a fuller size. Ah well, it just goes to show that size doesn't matter. The experiment continues and notes have been taken.

I also decided to pull out all the carrots. After months and months, here they are. True baby carrots. Again, note taken. Common sense: it is difficult to grow a good-sized root vegetable in a shallow box.

Hope you all are enjoying the crisp air. It's making me want to bake and knit, so stay tuned for more updates!

Le Dog is top dog

Le Dog, Ann Arbor

There is a hot dog stand in Ann Arbor called Le Dog that I've been wanting to try since I first saw it in the fall. Funny enough, their specialty is actually soup. They have a rotating menu of hundreds of soup with four to five available at any one time. They have very limited hours and seem to have closed up completely for part of the winter. But, I finally had a chance to try them yesterday and all the hype is worth it. I tried the Pozole -- a Mexican stew with hominy and pork.
I've never had hominy or pozole before — it was DELICIOUS! A little bit of spice, a little bit of freshness and a whole lot of flavor. This place rocks! I can't wait to go back. If you're in A2, you should check it out! It's on Liberty between Main and S. 4th Street. I'd also like to try to make pozole, so I may try this recipe I found in Food and Wine: recipe for Pozole.

OKAY, revision: I'd like to try THIS Pozole recipe from Urban Farm Girl that has a TON of chiles and sounds terrific. I was in a bit of a hurry when I linked to the F&W recipe and didn't scrutunize it fully. Chiles would be a must.