Friday, October 06, 2006
The perfect mushroom soup…
So sick… Atrociously sick… No head should be allowed to pass so much liquid at once…
On account of which spent the entire day alone, at home (cause kiddo went to his wonderful grandmother, who takes him even on a ridiculously short notice). So I spent the day mopping around, in pajamas, watching boring daytime TV… Reading some very strange vegetarian cookbooks, which seem to think that if you are vegetarian, the most amazing thing you can eat is a baked onion. (No kidding. There is a picture of a lonely baked onion, on a huge plate. That’s the dish. I’d post it here, but I’m afraid of copyright infringement…) Luckily it was a library book, and I didn’t shell out my family’s savings on onion-baking instructions.
I mean, seriously, a baked onion for dinner?! Reminds me how when I was a kid I was told that vegetarians eat lettuce for dinner. That was supposed to scare me away. (Didn’t quite work, obviously.) But in retrospect I think those people were thinking of rabbits…
Anyways, staring at the aforementioned onion I eventually got hungry. And I really wanted something warm and hearty. And I didn’t feel like driving anywhere to get it, so I figured, I’m on a cooking roll here, might as well make it.
Which is when I discovered that I still had a whole pack of fresh mushrooms. Yes! Mushrooms! Nothing heartier a vegetarian has yet discovered. And so I embarked on inventing my own mushroom soup. Something that would include all the things I wanted NOW. And of course, was contingent on what was hiding in the fridge and the pantry.
The ‘search and discover’ mission uncovered: 1 potato (Just one? Why? Oh why?) About 12 miserly baby carrots. Onions. Celery. Zucchini. Dill (of course). Parsley. And that’s about it. (There was also a cauliflower, and some cabbage, and even a few bell peppers… but I just didn’t feel like eating those…)
So I chopped a stick of celery and all the carrots and fried them for a bit in about a spoon of butter in a rather small pot (I mean, with one potato, there is only so much soup you can make… So why waste big bulky pots that no one likes to wash?). Once they were nice and crusty, I added boiling water, cubed potato (just one, I would’ve liked at least two), cubed zucchini, two bay leafs, dill and parsley (not chopped, so I could fish them out later), salt and pepper. In a separate pot, I fried onions and mushrooms in butter (What is it with me and butter today? I’m sure oil would’ve worked just fine.) Once the mushrooms were ready, I added (to the mushrooms) two table spoons of flour and mixed it all. By that time the potatoes in the soup were essentially ready. So I added the mushroom/flour/onion mix into the soup. Plus ½ cup of sour cream. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Boiled it all for a few more minutes, fished out the greens and bay leafs (and threw them out, naturally). And I had my soup! Total cooking time – about 30 minutes. Start to finish. With cutting and all. Once it was gracing my plate I garnished it with fresh dill (what else?).
And now I’m a proud owner of a great yummy mushroom soup just for me.
PS: Note that if you stare at the spoon on the picture, you’ll see my ‘beautiful’ light fixture (with a missing light) and even me! Right behind the flash! (Note to self for future picture taking: spoons reflect things… put a toast instead…)
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i will definitely try this one. now that it is getting cold and rainy here in austria i am in desperate need of new soup recipes. i just loooooooooove soup! thanks for the inspiration!