Pea and Mushroom Soup

When mushrooms have been sitting around a day or two longer than they really should, or you find a sale on dried mushrooms, make some mushroom stock. Then, when you need an umami-filled light lunch or quick soup, you’ll have a great base to build upon.

I had more shiitake mushrooms than I could use, and they were starting to dry out, so I cut them into large chunks and put them into a small sauce pan with some filtered water. After they’d simmered for an hour, I added more filtered water and some porcini powder, then let the pot simmer another 30 minutes. After letting it cool a bit, I strained it, pressing as much liquid as possible out of the mushrooms. The result was a very rich mushroom stock with a nice dark brown color. A stock like this will last for 3 days in the refrigerator or a month in the freezer.

To make this soup, I cut some crimini mushrooms into thick slices and lightly sautéed them with a some butter and extra virgin olive oil; leave out the butter for a dairy-free soup. I added some chunks of grilled chicken, but it would have been an excellent vegan soup without the chicken.

I added mushroom stock to the fry pan and let the chicken warm up for about 3 minutes. Then I poured everything into a bowl.

Next, I added a bit of canola oil to the fry pan and quickly fried some cooked soba noodles–make sure you use 100% buckwheat soba noodles to make this gluten-free. Once the noodles began sticking to the pan, I poured the mushrooms, chicken, and stock into the fry pan to deglaze, added whole sugar snap peas, and grabbed some bowls. After about two minutes it was ready to serve. Total time, start to finish, was about 15 minutes.

Such a short cooking time means the peas were still crunchy, a great contrast with the mushrooms. The umami-rich mushroom stock made this a very satisfying meal.

Pantry Soup

Chicken Soup

What’s pantry soup? That’s when you make a soup out of what you have in your pantry and freezer. The trick is to make sure you have a ready supply of the sorts of things you almost always need.

I make it a rule never to buy parts of a chicken, only the whole chicken. The only exception is when I buy chicken livers so that I can feed my friend’s cat, Beau, his favorite treat–minced chicken livers with garlic. Recently I needed two chicken leg quarters to make dinner for two, so I was left with two half-breasts and a carcass. The two half-breasts went into freezer bags for later. The carcass I made into stock.

Another rule I follow is never throw away vegetable parts. I save all parts of carrots, celery, onions, and mushrooms for stock-making. If I don’t need them right away, they go into a freezer bag. Yes, they’re better fresh. No, I don’t always make stock right away.

Chicken Soup Mise en Place

So, it was time to make lunch. The freezer yielded a quart of chicken stock, a chicken breast, and a bag of frozen peas. The crisper drawer yielded a carrot and celery stalk, plus half an onion from the previous night. I found some lemon pappardelle in a cupboard.

I brought the stock to a gentle boil and added the chicken breast to poach it. Meanwhile, I diced the mirepoix. Once the chicken was reasonably cooked, I pulled it out of the pot to cut it into bite-size chunks. The mirepoix and the chicken chunks went back into the pot along with the noodles. Any noodle would have been fine, or I could have added a grain like rice to make it gluten-free, waiting about 15 minutes to return the chicken to the pot. When the noodles were mostly done I added some frozen peas.

Total prep time? About 10 minutes while the chicken breast poached. Total cost? I’m not sure, but I’d estimate less than $2. That’s two bucks. Or less. Because the chicken and stock were leftovers from other meals, the mirepoix couldn’t have cost more than about 75 cents, I didn’t use more than about 50 cents worth of frozen peas, and no more than 75 cents worth of noodles.

Lunch at Murata with Miso Soup

My father and I took in the Portland Japanese Gardens today, with a break for lunch at Restaurant Murata. The Gardens are beginning to show the first signs of Spring. But about that lunch….

Restaurant Murata is one of Portland’s better Japanese restaurants. It’s located in the 200 Market Building at…wait for it…200 Market Street, across from the Keller and next to Carafe, which will be the subject of a future blog, but I digress. There’s a full menu at lunchtime, with Murata-san and a helper working the sushi bar. I chose a special with two entrées: sashimi and nigiri sushi.

Sunomono and Asahi

Lunch began with sunomono, and I had beer, of course. The sunomono was cucumbers.

Chrysanthemum, Dikon, and Soup

Next course included miso soup, pickled dikon, and sesame chrysanthemum.

 

 

The main course was sashimi—tako and tuna—and sushi, with rice to round out the meal. The meal cost $15.50, and the beer was $4.95. Rather reasonable for high-quality, hand-made sushi and sashimi.

 

 

Miso Soup

Miso soup is dead easy to make. First, make a good dashi (stock).

Take a sheet of kombu (dried kelp), wipe it off, and put it into a non-reactive pan with a quart of cold water. You can let it sit up to overnight if you wish, but at least 30 minutes is necessary. Put the pot onto the heat and slowly bring it to the point where the water shivers and remove the kombu. Add 100 grams or so of katsuo-bushi (dried bonito) flakes and allow the water to come to a boil. Skim any foam from the surface and stop the heat. Strain the stock through cheese cloth or a fine sieve, reserving the katsuo-bushi for your favorite feline.

While you’re waiting for the dashi to come to temperature, prepare some bowls with your favorite tofu, cut into bite-size pieces, and add green onions or sea vegetables or whatever else is at hand (enoki mushrooms—mmm). To the dashi, add miso to taste. I prefer about half-and-half red and white miso. Stir  and pour into the bowl. Eat right now. Don’t wait. Eat it all, it doesn’t pay to reheat it.