RECIPE: Mushroom Soup

This is an old favorite of mine. I got this recipe out of a book of Native American cooking. They say that it makes 6-8 servings, but I would say that would only be possible if they were small side servings to an entree. I'd say this will make more like four decent-sized servings.

Mushroom Soup
serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 medium shallot, minced
1 lb button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup flour
4 cups beef broth (I now use vegetable broth)
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp dried marjoram
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1.  In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium-heat. Add shallot and cook until transparent.

 2.  Raise heat and add mushrooms. Allow shrooms to render slightly.

3.  Reduce the heat and stir in flour. Cook for about 2 minutes, and gradually pour in broth, stirring constantly to prevent lumps from forming.

4.  Remove from heat and gradually stir in sour cream. Season.

Always easy and delicious! I serve it with garlic toast, and maybe a side salad.

NOTE: You can add rice before the sour cream, if desired. Add a box of wild rice (without the seasoning packet). Increase the broth by 1 - 1 1/2 cups. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer 20 minutes. Then go to step 4 above.

RECIPE: Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup

I think I saw this recipe on the Today show. I jotted it down and halved it for myself tonight. This half recipe makes about 2 full bowls, or 4 small side-dish servings. Sweet and flavorful, it's almost like having dessert for dinner!

Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup
Giada de Laurentis (serves 2)

1 1/2 tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter
2 shallots, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 stem of rosemary
3 cups of vegetable broth
1/4 cup marscapone cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 tbs maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Heat oil and butter in large soup pot
• Add shallots and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until soft.

 

• Add sweet potatoes, rosemary stem and broth. (The recipe called for chicken broth, but I'm pescatarian and only use vegetable broth.) Season with salt and pepper.

• Bring to boil, then reduce heat and bring to a simmer. Cook 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
• Once cooked through, remove rosemary from soup. Either use immersion blender to process until smooth, or ladle soup into blender and process in batches until thick and smooth. Return to pot.

 

• Whisk in marscapone cheese and maple syrup. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

 

• Keep warm until ready to serve.

Yum! As long as you like rosemary, this is a keeper! A nice light full dinner all on its own, or a small serving as a side to some grilled meat or fish. (The sweetness of the soup would probably pair well with pork.)

RECIPE: Tortellini Soup

The other day I had a craving for some simple soup. Something like minestrone. I decided to go with a tortellini soup. This was adapted from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

Tortellini Soup
Serves 4-6

1 tbs olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
1/2-1 tsp minced garlic
6 cups vegetable broth
a splash of red wine (maybe 1/8-1/4 cup)
1 can of diced tomatoes (I used diced tomatoes with onions)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
small can tomato sauce
About 3 cups of frozen Italian vegetables (zucchini, carrot, green bean)
9 oz fresh tortellini (I used garlic and cheese stuffed)
1 green pepper, seeded and cubed
salt to taste
grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add broth, wine, tomatoes, seasoning, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered 15 minutes.

Add frozen vegetables, and bump heat up to medium-low. Cook about another 15 mins.

Add tortellini and green pepper. Simmer uncovered for about another 25 minutes. Salt to taste.

 Serve in individual bowls and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

This was very tasty. I've been eating it for days now. The red wine and tomato sauce both really helped add a lot of body and depth to the broth. The soup was even better the second day. This is a definite keeper!

RECIPE: Vegetarian Mulligatawny Soup

I've always wanted to try Mulligatawny Soup, and thought to go ahead with it today after seeing a recipe posted by Pioneer Woman. This is my vegetarian version of her Mulligatawny Soup.


Vegetarian Mulligatawny Soup
Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Easy Mulligatawny

Ingredients

• 1 can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans)
• Salt And Black Pepper To Taste
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced Finely
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
• 32 ounces, fluid Vegetable Broth
• 2 cups Half-and-half
• 1 whole Granny Smith Apple, Peeled And Diced
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar (white Or Brown) More Or Less To Taste
• 2 teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper (optional, For Spice)

Preparation Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add chickpeas and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden. Remove to a plate. Set aside. (Note: I toasted pine nuts with the chickpeas, but next time will try without them. The flavor was a little too much, although perhaps fewer pine nuts would be okay.)

In the same pot, add butter and reduce heat to medium. Add diced onion and garlic and stir to cook. Onions should be starting to brown. (Note: Next time I will probably saute the onion and garlic with the chickpeas.)

Sprinkle flour over onions. Stir to combine, then stir in curry powder. Cook mixture over medium heat for one minute, stirring constantly.

Pour in chicken broth. Stir to combine, then cook for five minutes.

 

Add half and half, salt, pepper, and sugar, then cook for another five minutes.

  

Add diced apple and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off and allow to stand 5 or 10 minutes before serving. Taste for seasonings before serving.

This was pretty good. The pine nuts were just a little too strong. So I'll make the aforementioned changes next time. But otherwise this is a keeper.

Soup for you! (Seinfeld anyone?)

RECIPE: White Bean Soup and Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms

Yesterday was Sunday, so that must mean that it was time to cook! I hardly cook anymore, aside from Sundays. Yet it was a lazy day, and I had spent a sweating and exhausting afternoon weed eating the jungle behind my shed. So while starving, I wanted something fast and simple. Oh, and of course something good for you and vegetarian! So I decided to try a couple of recipes out of the new Vegetarian: a collection of over 100 essential recipes book that I got on clearance for $7.

White Bean Soup

• 6 oz or 3/4 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked in cold water to cover overnight (I used a can of Northern beans instead)
• 6 cups vegetable stock (I used 3 cans of store bought stock instead of making my own today. Remember it was a lazy day!)
• 4 oz dried corallini, conchilgliette piccole, or other soup pasta (I used corkscrew)
• 6 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used jarred minced garlic)
• 4 tbs chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Drain the soaked beans and place them in a large, heavy-bottom pan. (I used canned beans instead). Add the stock and bring to a boil. Partially cover the pan, then reduce the heat, and let simmer for 2 hours, or until tender. (I boiled my beans for about 15 minutes).
   
2. Transfer about half of the beans and a little of the stock to a food processor or blender and process to a smooth puree.




3. Return the puree to the pan and stir well to mix. Return the soup to a boil.
4. Add the pasta to the soup, return to a boil, and cook for 10 minutes or until tender.
5. Chop the parsley.
6. While the pasta cooks, heat 4 tbs of the olive oil in a small pan. Add the garlic and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 4-5 minutes or until golden.
   
   
7. Stir the garlic into the soup and add the parsley. Season with salt and pepper and ladle into warmed soup bowls. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and serve immediately with crusty bread.

Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms

• 1 lb white mushrooms
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• squeeze of lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 4 tbs chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Wipe or brush clean the mushrooms, then trim off the stems close to the caps. Cut any large mushrooms in half or into fourths. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottom skillet, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds-1 minute, or until lightly browned. Add the mushrooms and saute over high heat, stirring most of the time, until the mushrooms have absorbed all the oil in the skillet.
2. Reduce the heat to low. When the juices have come out of the mushrooms, increase the heat again, and saute 4-5 minutes, stirring most of the time, until the juices have almost evaporated. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped parsley and cook for an additional minute.
3. Transfer the sauteed mushrooms to a warmed serving dish and serve piping hot or warm. Accompany with chunks or slices of crusty bread for mopping up the garlic cooking juices.
   

Now the problem here was that I had to leave the soup simmering on the stove for too long while I did other things. So what I wound up with was a hearty pasta dish rather than "soup". Most of the broth was absorbed into the pasta while it simmered.
However all of the flavor was there! And the mushrooms had a little too much lemon juice (I did probably more like three squeezes of lemon instead of "a squeeze" as indicated in the recipe), and I used coarse sea salt right at the end, causing there to be bites that were really salty and crunchy. Next time I would probably use a finer salt, or less of the sea salt. Good though!
And there was pasta leftover for lunch today!
I would do this again, but I would try to get the soup straight off the stove as soon as it is done, rather than leave it to simmer. And, of course, I would use less lemon in the mushrooms. So, dinner was not as good as it could have been, but not half bad for a quick meal. Maybe not a "success", but at least a "pass"!

Heather's Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili

I don't care if it's summer! It's always a good time for chili! Yesterday I made up a big pot of vegetarian chili, and I took a bit of a new spin on my old recipe...

First I made up a batch of my chili seasoning. This batch will make 3-4 batches of chili over the next year...

I also oiled up and roasted a poblano pepper...
The poblano sat in a 450 degree oven near the upper element for about 20 minutes. I flipped it around a few times to roast all sides equally. While it was roasting, I diced up a jalapeno and a sweet onion.


I also removed the kernels from two corn cobs.

Then I poured the corn onto the cookie sheet with the roasting poblano, drizzled a little light olive oil over it, sprinkled it with a little sea salt, and tossed it to mix, then popped it back into the oven for about 5 minutes or so.

Meanwhile I sauteed up the onion and jalapeno.

Then I poured three undrained cans of beans (I used black beans, kidney beans and northern beans) into the slow cooker...

Then I added two cans of diced tomatoes (I used Heinz tomatoes with peppers, celery and onion included), a small can of tomato sauce, and the onions and jalapeno from the stove...

Add 1/3 cup of the chili seasoning and stir to mix...

Then pour on the roasted corn and stir to mix some more...

Put the roasted poblano pepper into a paper bag, and close it up and let it sit for about 15 minutes. After 15-20 minutes of steaming in the bag, peel the skin off of the pepper and remove the seeds, and chop up the roasted pepper...

Toss that into the chili, and cook it on HIGH in the slow cooker for about 3 hours...



This was JUST AS GOOD as my usual meat chili, which is a first! Usually when I do vegetarian chili, I wind up missing the flavor the meat brings to it. Not this time! Woodrow loved it as well. However the guy who told me as I was cooking that I could add a few more jalapenos to the chili (as he said he LOVES jalapenos!) wound up finding the chili a little on the spicy side with only a single jalapeno. I found it to be perfect!

Add to that the corn muffins (made with muffin mix, 1 egg, vanilla almond milk and about 1/3 cup of sour cream), and that was some good vegetarian eating!