Cream of Mushroom

This is a recipe I first tried a few years ago after Ina Garten made it on her show "The Barefoot Contessa".  I thought I had posted about it before but apparently I never did. This is a bit more labor intensive recipe than most I make regularly but it is worth it. The time is in both the ingredient prep and in the cooking so be prepared to devote a couple of hours at least on this recipe. You'll need two pots or pans, one large sauce pan for the stock and one large stock pot.

This recipe delivers a good amount of calories so this should be a planned indulgence. I double up on the amount of mushrooms than what is called for below because I love them and because I like a soup chock full of its star ingredient like clams in clam chowder and meatballs in Albondigas. Another different take I sometimes apply is to keep the vegetables used to make the stock and add them to the soup, I hate the thought of just tossing them and they add some additional chunkiness to the soup.

The recipe also calls for cleaning the mushrooms by individually wiping them with a dry paper towel or  using a mushroom brush. The reason for not washing mushrooms is they absorb water rather quickly and act like sponges. I use a lot of mushrooms in this recipe and cleaning them one by one is tedious so I checked out some info on the web about this and the other school of thought is that if you don't soak the mushrooms but rather quickly rinse them you don't run much risk of ruining your mushrooms. Geez, what is NOT answered on the internet?

INGREDIENTS
5 ounces of fresh shitake mushrooms
5 ounces of fresh portobello mushrooms
5 ounces of fresh cremini or porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 stick of butter, divided
1 cup of chopped yellow onion
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 sprig of thyme plus 1 teaspoon minced thyme leaves, divided
Kosher salt
Black pepper
2 cups of chopped leeks, white and light green parts, about 2 leeks (my regular store sells them in bunches of three so I just used the third one too, I also cut each leek in half length wise and then fully rinse them otherwise there always seems to be left over dirt)
1/4 cup of flour
1 cup of dry white wine
1 cup of half & half
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of minced cilantro

METHOD

1. Clean the mushrooms (dry method or wet, don't soak)
2. Remove the stems
3. Trims any dry parts from the stems, discard dry parts, coarsely chop the good parts, and set aside for use to make the broth
4. Slice the mushrooms into pieces large enough to be a good bite but small enough to fit on a soup spoon

Stock

1. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large sauce pan
2. Add the mushroom stems, onion, carrots, thyme sprig, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
3. Cook over medium to low heat for about 15 minutes, until the carrots are just getting soft
4. Add 6 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes
5. At this point you can either strain the liquid and reserve it or don't strain it and reserve it.

Meanwhile...

1. In the large stock pot, heat the rest of the butter and add the leeks
2. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes until the leeks begin to brown
3. Add the sliced mushroom caps and cook for 10 minutes or until they are browned and tender (don't fret if the mushrooms seem to be too much for the pot, they'll reduce pretty quickly)
4. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute
5. Add the white wine and stir for another minute, scraping the bottom of pot getting any fond loose
6. Add the mushroom stock (with or without the veggies), minced thyme leaves, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper
7. Bring to a boil
8. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes
9. Add the half & half, cream, cilantro
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper
11. Heat through without boiling
12. Serve and enjoy

Corn Chowder with Tomatillos & Poblanos

I have not tried a new recipe for quite a while. One of the reasons is I changed jobs a few months ago and that means a new group of people that are new to Soup at Work so the recipes I've made before are brand new to my new co-workers so I have been going with the tried and true soups. This week's soup is a new one for me that I tried at home last weekend and found a couple of tweaks were in order.

The original recipe is from Rick Bayless. If you watch much PBS you may have seen Rick on his show "Mexico - One Plate at a Time". I enjoy his show because his dishes are straightforward and familiar to me since I love Mexican food, am married to a Mexican-American, and live in Tucson surrounded by a wealth of Mexican food. Lately Rick has been including his daughter in his shows and I find her annoying so I have not watched as regularly as I used to. Anyway, I have made a couple of changes to Rick's recipe and I note where those are.

There is one conundrum with my version of this soup. I use my wife's tomatillo salsa instead of Rick's "Frontera Roasted Tomatillo Salsa" which he calls for in the original recipe. The conundrum is that Berdie has sworn me to secrecy regarding her tomatillo salsa so I can't tell you how to make it for use in this soup. That means you're going to have to buy Rick's salsa or find another tomatillo salsa to use. Sorry for the trouble but I pity the poor soul that would leak the recipe of her salsa, I shudder just thinking of the consequences. That said, you should be just fine with another salsa...

This recipe makes about 6 cups, enough for 4 good eaters or 6 light eaters. I double the recipe for Soup At Work and get 7 quarts. Including prep time you can expect to spend about 60 minutes making the soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 white onion, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 large fresh poblano chile, stem, seeds, and ribs removed, roughly chopped (if you can't find poblanos you can substitute pasillas)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups of corn kernels (I strongly recommend the canned yellow corn from Trader Joe's, it is much better than any frozen corn I've had and darn near as good as off the cob and a lot less messy)
2 cups tomatillo salsa (see my comment above)
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of corn masa (the smallest amount I found to buy is 24 ounces at Sprouts)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice or more to give it just the right tang (not in Rick's recipe)
Salt to taste
Garnish with chopped cilantro and shredded jack cheese

METHOD

1. In a large pot or dutch oven, cook the onion and poblano in the oil and butter until both are tender, about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add half of the corn and all of the salsa to the pot and process to a smooth puree with an immersion blender (a must have for making soups). If you don't have an immersion blender you will need to transfer the cooked onions and poblano to a blender, add half the corn and all the salsa, puree, and pour back into the pot. Rick's recipe calls for straining the pureed mixture when returning to the pot and I chose not to because I like the thicker consistency and it is one less thing to do and utensil to clean.
3. Stir in the broth, partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 30 minutes.
4. While the mixture is simmering, mix the masa with a 1/4 cup of water making sure there are no lumps. Rick calls for straining the masa mixture but I chose not to.
5. After simmering the mixture for 30 minutes add the masa mixture and stir until you see the soup thicken just a bit.
6. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste
7. Add the remaining corn
8. Return to a simmer
9. Serve with a garnish of chopped cilantro and jack cheese