Wild Mushroom Soup

I hated mushrooms during my childhood and almost gagged with every mouthful. I would avoid them at all costs, even developed a “mushie-phobia”. I would feel sick as soon as I caught a glimpse of my mother chopping them up. Perhaps it was the rubbery texture that threw me off? I’m not sure.

Nowadays, I love them: oyster, enoki, shitake, shimeji, button, swiss brown, chanterelle, porcini, …cooked any style. I don’t remember how or when I got over my phobia, but I’m glad I did. Have you suffered from a food phobia as a child and grown to like the same food as an adult?

The inspiration for this dish came from a spoonful of porcini mushroom soup which I’d tasted at Vetro, an Italian restaurant in Mumbai. Instead of porcini, I’ve used a mix of chanterelle, oyster and swiss browns. You can use any type that you like. I made this recipe up and served it as part of a 7 course dinner at home. It’s very easy to make and very tasty!

Serves 2 (with leftovers)

Ingredients

• 3 tbs of butter
• 1/2 white onion, diced finely
• 500g of mushrooms, chopped coarsely (reserve a few and roast in oven in foil with a knob of butter for presentation)
• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp of dill, diced finely
• salt and pepper to taste
• 100ml of thick cream

Method

In a saucepan, melt the butter, saute onion until translucent, then add garlic and cook until garlic is soft.

Add the mushrooms, cover and cook on moderate heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms have softened.

Add the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer until the mushrooms are tender.

Take off the heat, add half the cream. Use a stick blender or food processor to blitz until smooth.

Ladle into small soup bowels, drizzle the remaining cream and then arrange the roasted mushrooms in the centre.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with croutons (not shown) and garnish with dill.

Tip: When frying croutons in skillet, just add the desired herb or spice to the oil to infuse the croutons.

7 course dinner…at home

Recently, I spent last the 2 weeks of summer in Vancouver. Whilst I did get to savor some amazing food at several restaurants, I also had that one chance, to put my skills to the test and baptize a new kitchen.

A friend of mine had told me about a 5 course dinner that he had cooked to woo his girlfriend. I had to go one step further and cook an elaborate 7 course dinner. I have never cooked something so elaborate before and never in a kitchen I am unfamiliar with, but then I was not going to let that daunt me. I love challenges!

Leading up to the big day, I’d sourced enough ingredients to make 5 courses but needed to decide on another 2. Fortunately, two nights prior, I’d been watching an amazing documentary Step Up To the Plate. It provided plenty of inspiration, but in no way was it going to turn me into a 3 star Michelin chef overnight!

I still needed 2 more entrees. I narrowed it down to dishes which I thought would be hearty but not the stuff-you-silly kind. Soup it was. Besides, it was miserable outside, summer was coming to an end and rain, wind, cold was setting in.

Some of the dishes I made up, others I drew on inspiration and from participation at the Mondo Organics cooking class. Detailed recipes to follow.

Kale pesto on sourdough (original recipe by Brenda Fawdon)

Leafy green salad with semi-dried cranberries, pecans, goat milk fetta with a balsamic and agave dressing

Roasted tomato soup with thyme croutons

Wild mushroom soup with saffron croutons

Roasted pumpkin spelt gnocchi with sage butter sauce

Beetroot pearl barley risotto (adapted from original recipe by Brenda Fawdon)

Chocolate tofu tarts (adapted from original recipe by Brenda Fawdon)

Out and about in Vancouver and San Francisco

The abundant seafood along with many immigrants from the far east has created the perfect environment for eating sushi in Vancouver. There are probably more sushi restaurants per capita in Vancouver than any other city in the world, perhaps even more than in Tokyo! They are literally on every city block, in shopping centres, food courts, etc…

Could Vancouver be the sushi capital of the world? We’ll I don’t have the statistics to support such a statement but one thing I can vouch for is that it was some of the freshest, tastiest and cheapest sushi I’d ever eaten! If only I had my camera on all the occasions that I’d been eating sushi.

Sushi and Sashimi Porn…

Not only did I come across many sushi restaurants in Vancouver but also a wide variety of Chinese, Malaysian and Thai restaurants too. Unfortunately I only have one stomach and am limited to eating 3 times a day so I wasn’t able to rival my sushi indulgence with other Asian delicacies. I did however sample a few dishes like hand-cut noodles, chili-garlic eggplant and salty-spicy tofu at The Peaceful; kacang ikan bilis (fried anchovies with peanuts) and roti canai at Tropika; probably the best laksa of late at Hawkers Delight; and, some decent papaya salad at Bob likes Thai Food.

Hawkers Delight Laksa…

The food choices in Vancouver weren’t limited to Asian either: fine dining vegetarian at the Acorn and the well established West, my first Thanks Giving Dinner experience and I even stepped up to the plate to prepare a 7 course dinner!

The Acorn…

Thanks Giving Dinner…

Samples from the 7 course dinner…(through the eyes of my exclusive diner)

And it wasn’t all about Vancouver too. San Francisco offered some of the best Mexican food I’d tasted outside of Mexico. Sadly, the camera wasn’t always on hand to capture what was delighting my taste buds and nourishing my stomach. Two vegetarian restaurants worthy of a mention were Greens (the longest standing) and Millennium (contemporary).

Tacolicious Mission SF…