Vegetable Mushroom Soup

I went to a friend's house last night for a small get together. Instead of ordering food or doing our usual appetizers-for-dinner, I offered to cook. Originally I suggested a mushroom-squash soup, broth based because one of my friends recently discovered that her body is having an all out battle with dairy (or maybe that should be the other way around). The other friend indicated she's less than fond of squash, so I had mushrooms as a start and had to apologize to all the squash sitting in my kitchen unused. I hope they aren't sitting there, crying to each other about how nobody wants them. (As a side note: I have a ton of squash because, when my brother and sister-in-law left for a month in France, they left me their enormous csa share which included a ton of squash).

Back to our unpaired mushrooms... While sitting around knitting (I had the day off), I was thinking through different vegetables I could use. Oh, the no-dairy friend is also not a huge fan of meat, so I was going for an all vegetable soup. I recalled a delicious soup I had a local restaurant; it had beets (immediately nixed because one of the people eating doesn't really like those) and mushrooms and a very rich and complex broth. There were a lot of tiny pieces of root vegetables at the bottom of the bowl, so I assumed they had roasted the tiny vegetables with beef, deglazed the pan, and used that as the base. Since I wasn't using beef and didn't want to roast as well as cook stove-top, I wanted to try obtaining the richness in one pan.

In the end, I selected onions, garlic, potato (russet, for the starch), carrots, and parsnips. I used a mixture of baby portabella mushrooms and shitake. I heated a generous amount of olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Once that was hot, I added the onions and garlic and cooked those, stirring occasionally until they started to brown. Then I added the potato, and again, cooked with occasional stirring, until that started to brown and stick to the bottom. Next were the carrots and parsnips, a little more browning, some salt and pepper, and then I deglazed with a little bit of red wine. Once the bottom was scraped clean of all those delicious brown bits, I added water, vegetable and beef bullion (my friend isn't averse to that), and the mushrooms. It simmered for about 30 to 45 minutes and I added some more salt and pepper. The end product was a peppery, rich broth filled with perfect little cubes of root veggies and sliced mushrooms. And it was a definite hit with all friends involved.

Vegetable Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 large russet potato, washed and diced into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup carrots, diced or sliced into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup parsnips, diced or sliced into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup dry red wine
3 to 4 quarts water
1 to 2 teaspoons beef bullion
1 teaspoon vegetable bullion
3 cups variety of mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat.
When hot, add onion and garlic, stirring occasionally until onion begins to brown.
Add potato, stirring occasionally until potato begins to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add about 1 teaspoon and 1 teaspoon black pepper at this point.
Add carrots and parsnips, stirring occasionally until they also begin to brown.
Pour in red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan clean.
Add water, bullion, and mushrooms and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
While soup is simmering, taste occasionally to test the levels of salt, pepper and bullion, adding more if needed.

Beef and Sausage Stew

I had planned to go grocery shopping yesterday so that I could make another round of chili or something else warm. Instead I sat in my apartment most of the day reading and knitting. My dirty laundry and bare kitchen mocked me the entire day. In my defense, dragging a granny cart through a foot of snow to do laundry isn't exactly fun. Especially when most of my neighbors are disinclined to shovel their walks. The snow also deterred me from shopping and since I'm going back to Wisconsin near the end of this week, there isn't much reason for me to do any major food purchasing. So, I holed up in my apartment and stayed warm while my dog barked at everything that dared make a noise outside. Magellen has a serious problem. He hates trucks in general, car doors slamming, and people talking outside. I think he has a wire loose that makes all noise seem like an impending threat to our safety. The only way to keep us safe is to bark ferociously and run to all the windows. You never know, one of those trucks might climb into one of our second story windows. Then where would we be? Choking from gas fumes and freezing from the brisk winter wind blowing through the giant hole in the wall. It's a good thing Magellen scares them all away.

...Back to more important matters, though. The stew... perhaps it was more a soup... consistency of soup because I didn't feel like thickening the liquid, but there wasn't much liquid... okay, we'll just stick with calling it a stew. Feel free to thicken the sauce, should you be so inclined (mix some cornstarch with cold water and pour gradually into simmering stew/soup). I had 3/4 of a pound of steak and about 1/4 pound andouille sausage. I had an onion, three parsnips, some carrots, and a cabinet of leftover alcohol from my 30th birthday party. The end result was good... but lacked something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I think it just needed something to balance out the earthy and spicy ingredients. I thought the sweetness of the carrots would do it, but not really. Okay, I'm being a bit of a perfectionist here. The stew was very good, but the next time I make it, I'll try to make it more balanced and let you know if I succeeded. In the meantime, make it. It's good. Maybe you could make some suggestions on how to improve it?

Beef and Sausage Stew

3/4 lb steak, cut into small cubes
1/4 lb andouille sausage, cut in quarters lengthwise and sliced into cubes
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 medium onion, diced small
5 cups water, divided
1/2 c sweet vermouth
3 parsnips, peeled and sliced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme leaves
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp beef bouillon

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat until hot.
Add steak and andouille sausage and brown on first side.
Add black pepper and stir.
Continue to brown the meat, stirring occasionally, until a crust has formed on the bottom of the pan.
Add 1 c water, scrape bottom of the pan clean, and simmer until liquid has evaporated and crust is forms on the bottom of the pan again.
Mix vermouth and 1/2 c water and pour into pan.
Scrape bottom of the pan clean and simmer until liquid has evaporated again and crust is formed again.
Add remaining water and the remaining ingredients and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan again.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1/2 hour to 1 hour, until liquid dips below the top of the solid ingredients and carrots and parsnips and tender.
Serve hot with warm bread.

Rosemary Chicken with Mashed Yams and Parsnips and Sauteed Spinach

This morning I'm headed to Bintliff's American Cafe with Kurt and Jen. I have tried most of Portland's brunch cafes, but not this one. I've heard great things about their food. We had tried to go once before, a while back, but it was weekend brunch rush hour and Jen was already hungry, so we decided to go to another restaurant that I frequent and had never experienced a wait at. Enter the "never" curse. We had to wait just as long at the second cafe and also got the table right by the door, so we had to keep our coats on. I seriously don't understand people who walk into a restaurant during the winter and hold the door open while having a conversation with the people behind them about whether they'll eat there or not. The waitress also wasn't very attentive. I have high hopes for Bintliff's, since we made a reservation this time!

Last night, I made another meal to continue my attempt at more vegetables. This time I pan cooked some chicken thighs with rosemary and garlic, mashed yams (for sweetness) and parsnips (to balance out the yams), and quickly sauteed some spinach with garlic in oil so that it was wilted but not soggy. I hate overcooked greens. The meal was very colorful, which is always so appetizing, and the flavors balanced I thought. (Though, I didn't realize my brother doesn't like squash and yams very much, so I should have increase the amount of parsnips to yams for his taste preference). The meal came together quickly, which was nice since Jen was hungry when they arrived and I hadn't started to cook yet. Oops. Kurt also told me that when he makes a quick sauteed vegetable after cooking meat, he'll just throw it into the meat pan (meat removed). It saves a pan and adds more flavor to the vegetables.

Rosemary Chicken with Mashed Yams and Parsnips and Sauteed Spinach

2 tbsp oil
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tbsp rosemary
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 yams, peeled and diced
6 parsnips, peels and sliced
1 bunch spinach, washed well

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add smashed garlic cloves and rosemary and allow to cook for a minute.
Salt and pepper the chicken thighs on both sides and add to the pan.
Leave these to cook until you can see that it is cooked half way up and side facing down is thoroughly browned.
While first side of chicken is cooking, put the yams and parsnips in a pan and cover with water.
Bring yams and parsnips to a boil, then reduce heat and low boil until vegetables are tender.
When chicken is cooked half way up, turn over and allow to cook the rest of the way. Do not turn the chicken frequently, or the outside will overcook and the inside will take longer to come to temperature.
Yams and parsnips should be done before the chicken - drain and then mash.
Cover with a lid to keep warm.
When meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the largest chicken thigh reads 180 degrees, remove chicken from pan and place on a serving platter.
Add spinach to the meat pan and saute until just wilted.
Remove spinach from pan and put in a serving bowl.
Put mashed yams and parsnips in a serving bowl.
Serve hot.

Recipes - Something to Inspire

A few weeks ago, a close friend of mine and I collaboratively cooked a meal from some new friends. Now, I love to cook, but I don't tend toward what I consider to be... food snobbery. I would love to buy those ingredients that lend a slightly different flavor or are more environmentally friendly, but I can't quite afford those items. Now my friend tends to buy those ingredients. It leads to interesting conversations and eventual compromise in the grocery store. As soon as I have the monetary funds necessary, or my own farm, I'll definitely be up for those ingredients. At the moment, substitutions must be made, especially when cooking from recipes from certain online websites. I also found that said website also got the time necessary to cook a chuck roast grossly wrong, as in at least three hours wrong. I like my roasts tender, an hour in the oven with a mass of vegetables is certainly not sufficient. I also have heard that reducing wine alone makes a more flavorful and less alcoholic sauce, so we applied that to our recipe. If you buy a well marbled piece of meat, you shouldn't need additional fat. I also applied a technique for flavoring a pork roast to our adapted recipe, deep slits into which you stuff seasonings. Here is the recipe, as close as I can remember.

12 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon whole mustard seed, roasted in skillet and crushed
2 tsp black peppercorns, roasted in skillet and crushed
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 4 lb chuck roast
2 c dry red wine
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 c chicken broth
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small celery root, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 small to medium rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 medium to large onions, peeled and cut into eighths

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
To prepare mustard seed and peppercorns, place in a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Gently shake pan until mustard seeds start popping. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Place in the middle of a piece of plastic wrap. Fold plastic wrap in half to seal in the seeds. Pound with a meat mallet until crushed.
With a sharp knife, make 1 inch deep slits into the roast at regular intervals on all sides, placing a clove of garlic in each slit.
Rub the outside of the roast with the kosher salt, mustard seed, and peppercorns.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
Place roast in the hot skillet and brown on all sides.
Remove roast from skillet and place in large roasting pan.
Reduce heat on the skillet to low.
Once cool enough, pour in the wine and start stirring to loosen the browned bits.
Bring the wine to a simmer and cook, stirring, until reduced to half.
Add bay leaf, thyme, and chicken broth and cook until aromatic.
Pour the sauce into the bottom of the roasting pan.
Cover the roasting pan loosely with aluminum foil.
Place in the oven and roast for about 2 1/2 hours.
Add vegetables and continue roasting until vegetables are tender and roast is tender enough to insert a fork, but the fork does not lift the roast when removed.