Mushroom Soup

I'm not crazy about the wintertime. I don't mind snow so much but I *really* hate the cold.

The only two redeeming things about wintertime are rich hot soups and all kinds of comfort food. Last year I was off my soup game. I'm not sure why really. I was distracted sure. Between farm work and the ice I just hadn't fixed soup like I'd wanted to.

This year I was determined not to have that happen again and have made soup frequently. Lentil and cabbage soup are probably my favorites. Tortellini soup is right up there and of course there's always chicken soup. And here in New England there are all kinds of chowders.

And then there's this.

Wild Rice and Mushroom soup
I made this a week or so ago and I swear it's just about the best soup ever. I'd made a vegetarian Bolognese with mushroom duxelles and I had some leftover mushrooms. Here, loosely adapted from a recipe by Martha Rose Shulman appearing in the NY Times:

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 T olive oil
• Half a medium onion, chopped
• One carrot, sliced
• One celery rib, sliced
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Minnesota wild rice
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 2 cups chicken broth (no salt added, I used homemade)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 t thyme, 1/2 t parsley, 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• Cider vinegar, to taste, a t or two

It looks like a long list of ingredients but this is easy. I don't do anything that's hard.

Procedure:

• Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in 1/3 cup boiling water from a kettle for 30 minutes or so. Strain and reserve the liquid for later. Some people run the liquid through some cheesecloth or a coffee filter. I don't bother.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onions, carrots and celery and sauté until they soften, maybe 5 minutes.
• Add the sliced mushrooms to the saucepan. With a pinch of salt. Cook them over high heat until they start to soften, maybe 3 minutes or so. Reduce the heat and add the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, after a minute or two, add the thyme and the parsley. Stir to combine.
• Add the wine and reduce to at least half over high heat. Add the reserved porcini mushroom water. Add the chicken stock, water, and bay leaf, bring to a boil.
• Add the re-hydrated porcini mushrooms, wild rice, bring back to a boil reduce to a simmer. Simmer for an hour, covered.
• Add the peas.

Season the soup to your liking. I splash in the cider vinegar at serving time. Best soup I've had in a very long time!

Chicken soup!

Well. Chicken noodle soup.

I make soup all the time. Soup is the one and only good thing about wintertime. But...hard as it is to believe..I've never made chicken soup! I'd had chicken quarters for dinner ending up with a leftover quarter. The light clicked on! I decided I'd make chicken with that leftover quarter.

I picked the chicken from the leftover quarter, boiled all the bones for an hour and a half. I had roasted the quarters in garlic and parsley so there was enough seasoning there.

I sweated some onion, coarsely chopped celery and carrot in some olive oil, added some garlic, the broth and some Hodgson Mill whole wheat egg noodles. Product review! I don't know how they did that but those are really delicious egg noodles! Then I added the chicken I'd picked off the leftover quarter. Oh, and I splashed in the juice from half a lemon. It still needed a couple pinches of salt for it to really come to life. Managed to prepare two servings.

I don't have much room in my freezer so I freeze my soups in quart sized zip lock freezer bags. It's easy when you put the bag in a measuring cup and then just dump it in.

Soup season!

We had our first freeze of the season here this morning. Comfort food season is back. Comfort food has to include soup!

This was my favorite soup from last Winter and might even be the best thing I made all year.

My take on this French Lentil Soup. Although I didn't use French lentils I think the tarragon makes it "French". The beautiful color comes from the paprika. I added slices of browned polish sausage. I was positively delighted with this soup!

French lentil soup
I hate the cold. But last night's freeze will free us from the bugs for a while and we'll still have a few nice days left. Of course soup and fresh bread make the cold a little more bearable! Maybe this year I'll try using French lentils.

Squid soup

My (loose) interpretation of this.

Squid soup
I sautéed half a red onion in olive oil for 6 or 8 minutes with some chopped garlic, a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, a couple of bay leaves and a pinch of salt.

I added 5 or 6 oz. calamari with some tentacles and a cup of vermouth. When the vermouth was reduced by about half I added a 14 and a half oz. can of diced tomatoes and a can of fish stock. I let that simmer gently and after about 40 minutes I turned the heat off and let it sit for a while. I do that a lot with soup.

It needed a tiny bit more salt before serving. And I removed the bay leaves.

It also needed more calamari and more tentacles but it was a delicious soup. One I'll make again. And again.

And it was a great first course for some seared sea scallops!

Seared sea scallops with some spinach

Enough snow

If this doesn't say "Winter" I don't know what does:

29 January 2011
We've had worse winters but not for a while. I think we have enough snow thanks. There's another storm in the forecast and I guess the end of it is supposed to be ice. An ice storm on top of this stuff will be just great.

It's not hard to keep a training program going when it gets like this. It's impossible.

L is as strong as an ox and all kinds of willing. Although there were some stains in the snow. Behind where my car was. And they were just...just...well, wrong. Showing my sweety these stains were harmless was an unexpected challenge! She wasn't being bad. She was really frightened. That's what happens when you ride hardly a couple of times in a couple of months. But like I've said a hundred times I know she really does have the heart of a lion and we pressed on!

There's snow *everywhere*
I can feel her working really hard getting through snow almost up to her belly!

We did about a half mile through this stuff and that was quite enough.

I can practically drag my feet in the snow in some places!

We worked the driveway a little but we have to be careful of the ice where it's been plowed. There really isn't any way to have a program without indoor facilities this time of year. I just try to get us out enough so we don't completely fall apart!

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Here's a plan that's working! Yes, soup really is helping make Winter a little more bearable!

Minestrone:

My standard soup base is equal parts of finely chopped celery, carrots and yellow onions. About 1/3 of a cup each. For an Italian inspired soup I add a clove or two of finely chopped garlic, a generous pinch of Italian Seasoning, and some red pepper flakes. I sweat that mixture for 6 to 8 minutes with a pinch of salt in some olive oil.

Then I add a 14 1/2 oz. can of diced tomatoes.

In this case, for minestrone, I added 2 cups beef broth and let it simmer for about 40 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and added a half cup each of cannelini beans, corn and green beans and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. I would have put some noodles or rice in it too but I was having pasta for dinner so I didn't.

This was delicious soup and the cold and snow didn't seem so bad.

Tying troubles

The footing went bad this past Sunday. Everything froze. And we don't have an indoor. It's snowing now and hopefully the snow help re-establish some footing.

Back here I described some problems with L and cross ties. She likes to break them. She's a big strong girl and she learned she could break cross ties at will. Either quickly or slowly. Sometimes I could see her doing a slow lean and I knew within 30 seconds the cross ties were just going to pop. When she did that I had time to smack her in the butt and get her to knock it off. But other times she'd be fine and the next thing you know I had some broken cross ties.

So of course the obvious question here is what did I do about this?

I'm not a trainer. Smacking L in the butt was my trainer's advice and it worked but I wasn't always quick enough.

I learned about tying. Learn the quick release knot and practice it until you can tie it in your sleep. I didn't always use cross ties. Sometimes I'd use a rail or a post and of course sometimes I'd have to tie her off to a trailer. I wanted her to learn that she couldn't break loose so she had to be tied hard and fast. With a bull snap. But of course I didn't want anyone getting hurt either. If you've never seen a horse trying to break loose from a tie that won't break it's very scary. And of course you always want to have your wits about you when you're handling horses.

Now this actually worked. L's a smart girl. She learned she couldn't break a one inch cotton rope with a bull snap and she quit trying. But she still broke cross ties and...there's no reason I shouldn't be able to cross tie her.

Then along comes...

The Clip
Product Review!

The Clip from SmartTie Products. This Clip is designed to let a 1/2 or 5/8 inch nylon line to pay out with some resistance when it's pulled hard. It has some give. The rule of course is pulling your horse is just going to make your horse pull back. So this thing gives when the horse pulls and the horse stops pulling.

My trainer thought this was a good idea.

Like magic, in my case, this works like a charm. The only real challenge was finding ropes. You see, all that nylon lead rope that's 5/8 inch? It's really 3/4 inch. A 3/4 inch rope will not give through the Clip. It's the same as tied fast. And nobody has 1/2 inch nylon lead rope. Oh, I could have bought 5/8 nylon line from a yacht supply company but they all have $100 minimum orders.

Well. Web to the rescue! I found Debbie Hanson on the web and she'll make you anything you want from any kind of nylon rope you want. Something got screwed up and she did right by me - I have nothing but good things (supplier review here?) to say about her.

So I have 3 of these Clips and a spare. I keep two around the barn and I keep one in the trailer. Rigged up with 5/8 inch nylon rope. And L and I haven't had a tying problem in ... oh... 3 or 4 years now.

I've since found there are other such tying things out there but the Clip is the only one I've used and I'm very happy with the Clip.

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Here, make some seafood soup!

I made this one up, inspired by something I had for lunch in a local Chinese restaurant.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
  
• 1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 1/3 cup carrots cut into match sticks
  
• 3/4 cup dry white wine (vermouth or dry sherry would be good too)
  
• 1/3 cup snow peas
  
• 1/2 pound fish cut into ..oh, 2 inch strips. Haddock or cod, I used haddock.
  
• 1 1/2 cup seafood or fish stock
  
• 4 oz. clams, whole or chopped, cooked, I used canned
  
• 4 oz. bay scallops
  
• 4 oz. lump crab (from a package, cooked)
  
• 4 or 5 medium shrimp, like 41/50
  
• 1 teaspoon corn starch dissolved in an ounce or so of water
  
• salt to taste
  
• cracked black pepper to taste
  
• chopped cilantro - as much as you like
  

Sweat the celery and onion in the tablespoon of butter in a large sauce pan with a pinch of salt and a generous pinch of fresh ground black pepper until they're soft and translucent. This might take 6 or 7 minutes over medium heat. Really cook them down. Then add the carrots and raise the heat to high. After a minute or two when things look like they're cooking add the wine and reduce it by almost half. This will just take another minute or two.

Add the seafood stock and bring to a boil. Add the corn starch and reduce the heat. Let the broth get a little silky. Reduce the heat to low and...

Add the fish. Let this cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the scallops and the shrimp. After another 3 or 4 minutes turn the heat off, add the clams and the crab and the snow peas. Taste the broth and add salt until you like it. Cover and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Add cilantro and serve. This was OMG good and makes enough for two.

The spirit of this recipe is to just load your favorite seafoods into a flavorful broth and heat them up. I think some green peas would be a good substitute for snow peas and I'll try that sometime. I think some clams in their shells, about a pound maybe, would be good instead of canned clams but I just didn't see any I liked when I was at the supermarket. Canned clams are actually pretty good. And I think some lobster would be really good in this soup too.

I had a chardonnay with my soup but I think a pinot grigio would have been a little better with it.

Blizzard warning

You'd never know she was Canadian!

You can bring me in now
L's little sister P. P loves rolling as much as L does! Obviously a passion they share. P belongs to my friend J and it was love at first sight. P is about as sweet as can be. They're both everything a Canadian Horse is supposed to be.

It's been snowing here for an hour or so and we're right in the center of a blizzard warning that's up for the next 33 hours. The forecast is for 16 to 24 inches of snow with steady high wind. Ya well...so long as it doesn't get cold!

Going to be a nice day for soup!

Soup with Spinach

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Hey I made this up! Actually, I screwed it up. It was delicious anyway!

Start with equal parts finely chopped carrots, celery and onion (mirepoix), about 1/3 of a cup each. This is an Italian soup so I added a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, a generous pinch of Italian Seasoning and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes.

I sweat that mixture in a tablespoon of olive oil with a little pinch of salt. For about 7 to 10 minutes. Until the mixture is soft and translucent. When it smells great you know you have it right. You can use extra virgin olive oil but you'd just be wasting good olive oil. The heat will drive off the subtle flavors.

Add two cups of chicken broth and bring it to a boil.

Add a 14 1/2 oz. can of chopped tomatoes and I let it boil for maybe 45 minutes. Canned chopped tomatoes have calcium in them to help keep them firm and you really have to let them boil to break them down. If you're using fresh chopped (peeled) tomatoes 15 or 20 minutes is fine.

Then add a half cup of white rice. I forgot to do that! Let it simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

Taste your soup to see if it needs some salt. Add salt a little at a time if it tastes flat.

Finally add 2 or 3 big handfuls of whole baby spinach, cover, turn off the heat and let it sit until you're ready to serve.

This is *delicious* soup. So easy to make. I don't do anything hard!

Oh I hate this

I really do.
10 December 2010 7:19 am
It's a little early in the season for the pond to be frozen this solid. I just hate the cold!

11 December 2010 8:15 am
Here's the same shot a little less than 2 months ago. Not so bad:

17 October 2010 8:56 am
This might help. It's a favorite!

Lentil soup

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This is so easy!

• mirepoix, about 1/3 cup each celery, carrot and onion, finely chopped, I like to make sure some celery leaf gets chopped in there
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• Generous pinch of Italian Seasoning
  
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
  
• 2 cups chicken broth
  
• 14 1/2 oz. can chopped tomatoes
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1/3 cup lentils
  

Sweat the mirepoix with the garlic, Italian Seasoning and red pepper flakes in the olive oil for about 10 minutes with the pinch of salt.

Add the chicken broth and the bay leaf. When the chicken broth comes to a boil add the tomatoes. When it comes to a boil again let the tomatoes go at a ripping boil for a few minutes.

Rinse and add the lentils, reduce it to a simmer and cover for 35 minutes.

Pick out the bay leaf and tweak the salt before serving.

Just the thing when the season starts getting ugly cold.