Mixed Mushroom Soup with Green Lentils

I LOVE mushrooms......and I hope you do too because this is a soup for mushroom lovers! This soup came about because I was cleaning out my fridge and realized I had a box of dried porcini mushrooms that I needed to use. I went to the grocery store and bought some fresh crimini mushrooms and fresh shiitake mushrooms and mixed mushroom soup was born. Something to remember when making this earthy flavored soup is that it only needs to be lightly salted. If you don't salt it enough it will be bland, but adding just a small amount of salt will bring out the mushroom flavor beautifully. 


I also love the New Pornographers, and I have been listening to their newest album, Together, for a few weeks now. I've been listening to it in sections or just repeating certain tracks, but tonight I decided to take the time to listen to the whole thing while making this soup.......


For the broth:
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
5 crimini mushrooms, sliced
5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 leek, sliced and cut in half
1 cup broccoli
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil, plus a little more
2 cups hot water (for the dried mushrooms)
3 cups water (or water used to boil the lentils)
salt to taste
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon rosemary

For The Lentils:
1/2 LB Green Lentils
5 Cups Water
Some Olive Oil
A few pinches of salt


Putting It All Together:

The first thing to do would be to start cooking the lentils. You will use around 5 cups of water, and add about two tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt to the water. Once the water starts to boil, add the lentils. Turn down the heat until it is at a slow boil. Usually green lentils take a bout 30-40 minutes to cook, but you can always test them after 30 minutes to see if they are at your desired texture. While the lentils are cooking you can start on the next step.

Soak the dried porcini's in the 2 cups of hot water for 15-20 minutes to soften and soak up the flavor. While they are soaking chop up the leeks, garlic, broccoli, crimini mushrooms, and shiitake's.

In another soup pot, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil and add the garlic and leeks. Cook for about 3 minutes and add the 1/4 cup olive oil and the shiitake and crimini mushrooms. Cook for about 2 minutes and add the porcini mushrooms along with the water they are soaking in.

Add 3 cups of filtered water and flavor it yourself. Start with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, taste, and adjust from there.

**If you want to be creative add some of the water used to cook the lentils. I actually added 2 cups of the lentil water and then a cup of filtered water. Some of the lentils will get into the measuring cup, but that is just fine. You can also use vegetable broth if you would like, but make sure it is low sodium. If you need to add more water to make it more soupy, go ahead!

You'll have a lot of leftover lentils, but just add about 1 cup to the soup. Add the rosemary, the bay leaves, stir everything together, bring to a boil, lower heat to a slow boil, and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add to a bowl.... add more lentils if you desire... and you're done!

Afterthoughts: 

I sat at my table savoring my new concoction while being completely captivated by Dan Bejar and Neko Case singing Daughters of Sorrow in the background and I thought, This is one of the best soups I have ever made! I love it when this happens! It was a perfect moment. Sometimes I throw things together and it's good enough for me, but I can't say it's actually good enough to share it with someone else. This soup is hearty, fragrant, and full of flavor with every bite. I can't wait to use mushroom broth for so many other things..... and I couldn't have done it without the New Pornographers to back me up.....


I have been listening to The New Pornographers for a few years  now. I have every album, and have been spending some time listening to them all thoroughly. The first one I listened to was Challengers, which is their 4th. It takes a totally different turn from their first three, which are more upbeat. That being said, they didn't just go from one extreme to another. Twin Cinema (3rd album) is a transition piece where you can hear hints of their catchy upbeat tunes from the first two albums, but then some songs that are still catchy, but also have some breathing room.

Challengers and Together have a more mellow (but not depressing) mood. I loved Challengers when I first heard it, but it was tough for me to go backwards with The New Pornographers. Although, it didn't take very long for me to fall in love with everything about them. What I love most about them is that they have their own style, but every song is different depending on who is fronting it. At first I couldn't get enough of Neko Case and A.C. Newman.... listening to their voices together just completely mesmerized me (and still does). But lately my interests have taken a turn to preferring the Dan Bejar songs. I just love his voice so much. I remember his style took awhile to grow on me, and when I first listened to Destroyer, I didn't take to it so well. I wanted to like it, but it just wasn't working for me, but now I can't stop listening (that's another blog post). That's what I love about this band..... the more I listen to them, I hear something different. The best way I can describe their songs are that they end in a different place from where they begin, and I never get sick of them.

I can't say that Together is the best album that they have put out, but I can say that I continue to like it more every time I listen. I'm listening to Valkyrie in the Roller Disco as I write this, and it's like a breath of fresh air. It just keeps getting better.

Namaste

Red Curry & Wild Rice Soup

I have lived in Florida for most of my life and I don't remember it ever being this cold. I recall it snowed flurries when I first moved here with my family, but I still don't remember it being this freezing. I went to my nephews third birthday party this weekend, and it was rainy and chilly out. Luckily it was at an inside venue, but I remember last year it was outside at sunny! 

It was a Sunday, and it had been a freezing week, and all I wanted was some warm comforting soup to end the weekend. I was looking through my fridge and I had some red curry paste, tons of veggies, coconut milk, and I knew that whatever I was making was going to involve red curry. I ended up making a soup with wild rice, a red curry broth, and veggies. It was so soothing and relaxing and is exactly what I needed to put me to sleep before the start of the work week. This recipe was inspired by a recipe I made a few months ago from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson.

Red Curry Wild Rice Soup

2 tablespoons sesame oil
4 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 large yellow onion chopped
1/2 large red pepper chopped
8 pieces of baby corn - halved lengthwise, then cut in half widthwise
1 and 1/2 teaspoon red curry paste
1/2 cup wild rice
2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 heaping cup of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 and 1/2 tablespoon braggs liquid amino (or soy sauce)
1 can coconut milk (14oz)
1/2 cup water
1 cup cauliflower
5 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro
2 tablespoons basil
Lime Juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
black pepper to taste

Heat 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in a soup pot to medium heat. When it starts to sizzle, add the garlic, yellow onion, red pepper, and baby corn. Add the red curry paste and stir together and saute for about 4 minutes until the onion gets soft. Make sure the curry is evenly distributed.

Next, add the wild rice, the vegetable broth, mushrooms, and bring to a boil, then simmer and cook according to the wild rice package. I cooked mine for about 20 minutes, but you will know when the rice becomes soft when the rice starts to open and split.

When the rice is done, add the cauliflower, the green onions, coconut milk, braggs liquid amino, sugar, a generous squeeze of lime juice, water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 3 minutes. Taste and add some black pepper if needed.

Ladle into a bowl and garnish with some basil and cilantro, and red pepper flakes (if you are using them for extra spice) , and you are ready to eat!

Afterthoughts:
I can't express how nice it was to eat this soup on a cold day. One thing that i learned is that you will want to experiment with different curry pastes because some are hotter than others. The one I used said medium spice, but it really was mild. If you prefer to give it a little kick.. add the red pepper flakes, or even some cayenne pepper. I most always use braggs liquid amino instead of soy sauce because it's less in sodium, but feel free to use soy sauce, tamari, or shoyu if that is what you prefer. You can also use whatever grain you have in the cabinets. I used wild rice, but how about quinoa, soba, or orzo? You can even add Gardein, tofu, or edamame. Those would work too. If you are looking for a warm, comforting, and soothing soup... this is the one for you! Please let me know what you think!

Vegetable Stock

First off, I apologize that I did not get to this earlier. There is one more night of Chanukkah, and I wanted to have a good vegetable stock posted so you would have enough time to cook and enough soup throughout the holidays. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I slacked off a little. It's alright though, because soup is satisfying anytime.....it's probably my favorite food, and this recipe will give you enough to make now and freeze for later. You can use a good vegetable stock for almost anything! You can make a nice Pho... which is a vietnamese soup... and the vegan version is called Pho Chay (Pho is actually a beef or chicken soup with Pho noodles, but Pho Chay was actually created for the buddhist temple since they do not eat meat). Vegetable stock can used to make any noodle soup, a miso, a curry, a Thai Tom Yum, a mushroom and barely soup, or even to cook couscous or saute vegetables... the options are endless!

Ingredients
You will need: Cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer, stock pot
20 cups filtered water
3 yellow onions, roughly cut, skin on
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6 carrots (large/med), roughly cut, peeled
3 parsnips, peeled, roughly chopped
3 medium turnips, roughly chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup dill - loosely chopped
1 cup parsley - loosely chopped
6-8 springs thyme
a handful of basil leaves
4 bay leaves
garlic powder
onion powder
sea salt
pepper
olive oil

Directions
Chop up all of the vegetables. They can be chopped in large pieces, so there is no need to spend time chopping many pieces or worrying about making them look pretty. In a large stockpot, heat the oil. Saute onions and garlic for about 5 minutes on medium heat. I learned this from Post Punk Kitchen. Cooking the onion and garlic first really does help to bring out the onion flavor, and leaving the skin on the onion gives the soup a fabulous golden color. When you are finished, add all other vegetables and fresh herbs, and bring to a boil. Add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat and let simmer for an hour and a half, uncovered.

Let broth cool until it's an okay temperature to handle. Strain into a large bowl or pot with cheese cloth or a very fine mesh strainer. Press the vegetables with a gentle but firm pressure to get all the moisture out. Using the cheese cloth is easier. Just keep squeezing until you get all of the juices out from the vegetables to get a savory stock. Then discard veggies, and keep enough stock in your fridge that you will use up to 3 days, and freeze the rest.

Some Afterthoughts:

A good vegetable stock is something that can be a a little time consuming to make, but that's why you make so much at once... so you always have it on hand. It's way better than using the store bought ones because then you end up with a broth loaded with sodium, msg, or "flavoring". However, I use store bought stock a lot, and there are some decent ones if you take the time to read the ingredients, but you still don't get away with a preservative free one! You can add other vegetables such as mushrooms, kale, or other seasonings for a deeper flavor. You can really add anything that is in your fridge so that it doesn't go bad and get wasted. Anyways, I ended up making a two-noodle soup with kasha and vegetables for Chanukkah instead of matzoh ball soup. I didn't have the motivation to make homemade matzoh balls this year, but I will eventually! I hope you enjoy!

Tomato Gazpacho

This recipe serves 4 as a meal, and 6 as an appetizer.

Ingrediants
2 cans of 14.5 organic diced tomatoes with juice
1 hothouse cucumber, diced (see below-save about 1/2 cup for garnish)
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and cut in half
2 tablespoons of cilantro, plus a handful for garnish
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
black pepper
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (see below for garnish)
18 small cherry tomatoes, cut in half
-1 tomato on the vine, cut in half and quartered
-1/2 small yellow onion, chopped

Set aside for Garnish
- a few leaves of cilantro (about 6 per bowl)
-a tablespoon red bell pepper, diced
-diced cucumber (about 1/4 cup per bowl)
-yellow onion
-tomato on the vine


This is a pretty simple recipe. You pretty much just have to chop the veggies, blend, pour in a bowl, and garnish! The first thing you have to do is chop and dice the cucumber, red bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Prepare the jalapeno, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro. Make sure to set aside some of the cucumber, cilantro, and bell pepper for garnish. Chop the vine tomato and set aside with the garnish and onion for later.

The soup is made in two batches. In a blender, add 1 can of the tomatoes with the juice, and add half of each: cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and some black pepper to taste. Process in the blender on the lowest speed until broken down. Turn the speed up to high and puree until the soup is completely smooth. Repeat with the second half and mix together.

Pour the soup in bowls, and add a handful of the yellow onion, cucumber, a few leaves of cilantro, a few pieces of the chopped vine tomato, and some red bell pepper. You can eat right away, or chill and eat very cold the next day.

Delights and afterthoughts:

I got this awesome cookbook for my birthday called Great Chefs cook Vegan. This recipe is basically a variation from a chef named Suzanne Goin from this cookbook, but with some differences. The recipe originally called for yellow tomatoes, but this one uses canned red diced tomatoes. We also used yellow onion instead of red onion. There is so much that you can do with gazpacho, and I think you can probably make it different every time. I was really happy and amazed with how flavorful this gazpacho turned out, and I think you will be too. The best thing about it is that you get a full serving of vegetables and it's all raw (well, the canned tomatoes may not be raw, but close!) so you are not cooking out any of the enzymes. Also, you can really taste the garlic in this, but feel free to add more since garlic is such a good antioxidant when raw. I also had a thought that if you wanted to substitute one can of fire roasted tomatoes, or add cayenne pepper, then you can can make spicy tomato gazpacho. Or, maybe you like to have chunks in your soup, so don't puree until completely smooth... just blend until desired consistancy. You can really put your own variation on it... like adding some basil and some grated follow-your-heart mozzarella "cheese" to make a tomato caprese gazpacho... that sounds yummy! Or, maybe add some chunks of avocado... that sounds good too. Seriously... try it out and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear about it!

Spicy Orzo Soup with Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Tonight for dinner I decided to try a variation of a recipe I saw on 101 cookbooks by Heidi Swanson . Her recipe is not vegan, so I ommited and added some ingreadiants to make it my own. I do have to say, I was delighted with the results!






7 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup tri colored orzo
1 3/4 cups finely chopped spinach
14oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (drained)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
7 green onions chopped (green and white parts)
olive oil
sea salt to taste
3 tablespoons chopped vegan Mozzerella Cheese (Follow Your Heart)
Optional: 1 sliced carrot, 1/4 cup diced turnip, 2 stalks celery chopped, 1/2 chopped white onion

Pour you vegetable broth in a stockpot, and if you choose to add the optional vegetables, throw them in now. Bring to a boil. Make sure to skim the top of the soup if any foam or fat rises to the top. While you are waiting for your vegetable broth to boil, grab a separate pot, boil water, and pour in your orzo until just done. This should take around 10 minutes. I am not a fan of cooking pasta in the broth you will be eating because it makes it a bit starchy. While you are waiting for the broth and orzo to boil, go ahead and pour the fire roasted tomatoes, with about a tablespoon of good olive oil in a small skillet or saucepan, add the red pepper flakes, and set to medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes and set heat to warm. Pour the spinach and scallions in the vegetable broth once it starts boiling. Once the orzo is finished, drain and add the pasta to the broth. Cook for about 3 more minutes to make sure all of the flavors are blended together. Once the soup is finished, ladle into a bowl, spoon a generous portion of the tomato mixture into the soup, sprinkle some olive oil, throw in a pinch of the mozzarella, and add some salt if needed. You're done! YUM!

Delights and After Thoughts:
This recipe is great for improvising which gives you the option to use any leftovers that you may have in your refrigerator, freezer, or pantry. A few weeks ago I made a vegetable barley soup, and used a stock recipe that I found on the Post Punk Kitchen website. I'll have to write about that one sometime too. I had about 3 cups of that frozen, so I used that along with Imagine Organic Vegetable Broth for my broth base. The broth that I had frozen already had vegetables in it (carrots, turnips, onions, and celery), which is why I listed those as optional. Feel free to add a small amount of your favorite vegetables to this soup. I originally wanted to use whole wheat orzo, but I couldn't find that anywhere. But, I did find this tri-colored orzo by Rice Select, and I am glad I did because I think it made a great addition to this soup. I just want to note that you can order whole wheat orzo off of the rice select website in bulk or off of amazon in normal size portions. The fire roasted tomatoes with the red pepper flakes do make the soup pretty spicy, so if you do not like spicy feel free to use any other type of canned tomato (chopped or crushed would work just fine as well) and omit the red pepper flakes. Salt is all about preference. I did add a pinch of salt to taste, but I am not a fan of adding a lot of salt or any if I don't have to. I prefer to taste and enjoy food for its original flavor. But, let's face it, sometimes we need a little salt to bring out the flavor, but not so much that it takes over the dish.

After I was finished, I decided to just throw the tomato mixture into the broth, and poured the soup into soup bowl sized Tupperware (thanks to all the orders of soup from Chinese and Thai restaurants), and freeze. Soup is one of my favorite foods, and this has made it in the top rankings! Make sure to eat slow and really take in the flavor and scent of this soup. If you enjoy it spicy, this soup will be sure to help clear your sinuses and congestion. This soup is great for any occasion, and I hope you enjoy!

Cheers-
Monica