soup sunday
Afternoon, people. This is becoming quite a pattern, but hey, cooking and eating are fun. I promised Liam ages ago that I'd write this down. He had a hand in creating the recipe the first time I made it, and this is basically the same.
Need:
Do this:
I like mine with crackers, of course, who doesn't? Also, I think a dollop of sour cream and some fresh chives cut on top would be SEX. Too bad I don't have any sour cream.
I also made leek and potato soup yesterday, but I wasn't too happy with it. OH, that reminds me. A nice addition to this soup: a handful of onions or leeks, thrown in with the garlic to soften up and just add extra yum. I had leftover leeks, so I did.
I am out of ideas for things I want to cook! I think I will have to consult a cookbook or something for ideas. I don't even know what I want, really. Maybe Mexican?
Need:
- 1.5 Pounds Mushrooms (I use three kinds: white button, crimini aka baby portobello, and shiitake)
- 4 Cups, about a litre, of broth (I used half chicken and half beef, because it's what I had)
- 1-2 Cloves of garlic
- 1-2 Pinches of thyme
- 2 Tablespoons of butter
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- A pinch of parsley
Do this:
- Make sure your shrooms are clean, but don't wash them in too much water. They soak up a lot. Chop them roughly into bite-sized piecez.
- Mince up that garlic, and throw it in a large saucepan with the butter on mediumish heat. Don't let it burn, or it'll get bitter and gross, and you'll have to chuck it.
- After the garlic is smelling nicely, add the mushrooms — as much as will fit — to the pan. If they don't all fit, just let the others cook down a little, and then add them. My experience is that the mushrooms will shrink about 50%, so don't worry. They'll fit.
- Add a wee splash of broth as this is all cooking, to keep things moist. This will also nicely meld the shroom and broth flavours, to create a SUPERMORPHORATED SHROOMBROTHY flavour.
- At this point, do your seasoning. You should be able to pick a mushroom out and have it be perfectly tasty. If it isn't, add what you think it needs. I like mine very peppery, and with a pinch of thyme. Feel free to add other savory herbs.
- Optionally, right here, you can add a wee bit of flour or corn starch to thicken things up, so you will have just a bit less of a brothyness to the final product.
- When things are sufficiently tasty, add that broth, brotha. Oh, and the parsley.
- Allow to yum for 45 minutes over low heat.
- Eat.
I like mine with crackers, of course, who doesn't? Also, I think a dollop of sour cream and some fresh chives cut on top would be SEX. Too bad I don't have any sour cream.
I also made leek and potato soup yesterday, but I wasn't too happy with it. OH, that reminds me. A nice addition to this soup: a handful of onions or leeks, thrown in with the garlic to soften up and just add extra yum. I had leftover leeks, so I did.
I am out of ideas for things I want to cook! I think I will have to consult a cookbook or something for ideas. I don't even know what I want, really. Maybe Mexican?
recipethan strikes again
Tonight we're making meatloaf. I generically stereotypically call this "Meatloaf Italia!" because it has Italian-esque flavours in it.
You'll need:
Okay, here's what you do.
Next weekend, I may actually get unlazy and make mushroom soup again, only this time remember to write down the recipe.
Cheers, all.
You'll need:
- Two pounds of ground meat, your choice. I used turkey and buffalo, because I'm a weirdo, and they liked me at the time. Some meats need more mixing together than others, in order to make them a nice homogenous mix.
- An egg
- A handful of fresh basil leaves. Homegrown are much better, btw, because they have a nice sweetness that commercial varieties typically don't.
- A couple of cloves of garlic. I used one monstrous deformed elephantitus clove, which was seriously huge, and two really tiny ones. A mutant bulb, it was.
- 1/4 cup or 60ml (a measurement that Liam hates) or maybe half a handful of roasted red peppers. I took mine from a jar.
- Salt and pepper
- Bread crumbs. I used the Jap ones - panko.
- Parmesan cheese for topping.
Okay, here's what you do.
- Dump everything in a bowl except the parmesan, although you could certainly do that if you liked, and mix it up. If you are using two or more types of meat, make CERTAIN that are mixed well. This means your whole mix should be one colour, and you shouldn't be able to pick out what meat is where. If you don't do this, since different meats cook for different times, it could help the loaf fall apart.
- Oh before you do that, you should probably mince the garlic, and chop up the basil and red peppers. Yeah go! Wooo!
- Form all that into a loaf. You want it to be as moist as possible while still retaining its shape. Make it too dry and it'll fall apart. Make it too moist and it will just flatten and then fall apart. At this point you can do one of two things.
- A: Put it on a flat tray or plate and put it in the icebox. This will allow the flavours to meld a bit more, or so I'm told. Some call this "yumming." Some meaning Liam and I.
- B: Put it on a tray, or a foil-covered rack, and bake for an hour or until the juices are clear at 350 F, or 175 C, or gas mark 4.
- Allow it to cool a little bit after you take it out, slice it up and eat.
Next weekend, I may actually get unlazy and make mushroom soup again, only this time remember to write down the recipe.
Cheers, all.
