Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Even the biggest carnivore needs to take a break from meat sometimes right? In my opinion mushrooms are a great substitute for meat- maybe it's their chewy texture? One of my favorite restaurants in Anchorage (Moose's Tooth) served up a delicious Hungarian Mushroom soup. However, I didn't eat it much because I was always so stuffed with salad and pizza, but I loved it. So I decided to find a recipe and make it this weekend. I was thinking of a comfort/winter food, but Texas did not cooperate; it was hot and muggy. Oh well. It was still good I promise.

Here's the recipe. I used a mix of bella, cremini, and portabella mushrooms and also made a double recipe for the leftovers. Just go for the fresh herbs- it always pays off. I suggest pairing with some crusty bread with greyere cheese melted on top. Check out the pictures on the recipe blog because mine don't do it justice!

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

What? 2 recipes posts on the blog in the same week??! This is big. This is a sign that baby Paige is 6 months old and more regularly sleeping through the night, giving us more energy to devote to food rather than just viewing it as sustenance. Though we have found our favorite food pickup spot near our house to be Peli Peli Kitchen, a South African restaurant. Claire thinks they make a mean macaroni and cheese.

I will try to get better at taking pictures of the meals, but most of these recipes are accompanied by enviable pictures so I don't feel like I'm neglecting you too much :) This recipe includes a nice amount of veggies with the ease of one pot meal. I mean anytime you don't have to cook rice separately is nice too right? There's some spice to the dish because of the red curry paste.

Thai Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Recipe

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Wonton Soup

On occasion (ok fairly often) I get an "out of the blue" food craving. This week it was wonton soup. When I was a kiddo growing up in Newark, Delaware we would regularly get Chinese take-out from this place next to the Acme. (Do they even have Acme's anymore?? Do you know that's a grocery store??). Anyway one of my favorite things to get was wonton soup. However, I remember that there never seemed to be enough wontons in the soup... ever. But, if you made your own soup then you could make your own wonton to broth ratio. Bingo. Epiphany 20 years later.

So, I've never made wontons before. It's sort of like sealing an envelope. An envelope with deliciousness inside: ground pork, shitake mushrooms, cabbage, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, green onions, and ginger. 

My wontons looked challenged before a chicken broth bath, but they tasted great

Now check out this ratio...

This picture is a bit deceiving because the wontons float to the top when they're finished cooking. There is quite a bit of broth under there.

Serve it up with some chopped green onions and you have a meal.

Recipe adapted from Userealbutter. Check out her website for more on the wonton folding technique, etc. 

Wonton Soup

1 pkg wonton skins
1 lb. of dumpling filling
little bowl of water
4 quarts chicken broth
scallions, sliced thin (for garnish)

Plop a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Using your finger, wet the edges of half of the wonton skin. Fold the wrapper in half on the diagonal and press the edges together. Push any air pockets out when you seal it. Wet one of the bottom corners and fold the wings in front of the wonton so that they cross at the corners. Press the corners together. Heat 2 or 4 quarts of the chicken broth in a pot until boiling (depending on the size of your pot). Add the wontons to the broth and let it return to a boil. Make sure not to crowd the wontons. If it’s a medium saucepan, then cook a dozen or so at a time. If it’s a large pot, cook 2 dozen or more. When the wontons float to the top, they are done. Sprinkle scallions in each bowl and ladle soup and wontons over the scallions. Serve immediately. Makes ~ 40 wontons. To freeze: place wontons on a baking sheet (make sure they aren’t touching) and set in freezer for 20 minutes or until the wonton wrappers are no longer soft. Put the wontons in a ziploc bag and freeze for up to a month. To cook, place frozen wontons in boiling broth (or water) and cook until the filling is done – should take several minutes longer than when you boil fresh wontons.

pork filling
1 lb ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried – rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, minced

1/2 cup water chestnuts, minced
2 tbsp ginger root, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp corn starch

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French Onion Soup

Good French Onion soup is just divine. However, a bad French Onion soup can make you lose faith and keep you from eating it for a long long time. Sort of like tequila... but that's entirely another story :)

I've tried to make a couple different recipes, but they were not quite perfect. This one basically is, so you should try it. I mean it's Julia Child's recipe, it must be perfection right?

The first step of "sweating" the onions and the addition of the wine really elevate this recipe above the crowd. Next time, we're going to try the "optional" cognac for sure. I also recommend doubling this recipe if you're going to go through the effort.

French Onion Soup

3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
5 cups thinly sliced yellow onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar (to help caramelize the onions)
3 Tablespoons flour
8 cups beef, at a boil
1 cup dry white wine
1 sprig fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons cognac (optional)
6-8 slices of toasted French bread rounds
1 cups grated Gruyere cheese

Melt the butter and oil over low heat in a heavy soup pot. Stir in the onions, cover, and sweat until they are tender; this will take about 15 to 25 minutes.  Remove the cover, increase heat to medium, and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook 30-40 minutes, stirring often, until the onions have turned an even, very deep, golden brown. Sprinkle in the flour; cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes.

Off the heat, whisk in the boiling stock. Add the wine and rosemary. Season to taste. Place the pot back on the heat, bring to a simmer. Continue to simmer, partially covered, for 40-60 minutes or more, skim foam from surface as it appears.  Taste and correct seasonings. At this point you may set it aside, uncovered, until you are ready to serve.

When ready to serve, with the soup at a simmer, stir in the cognac. Turn on oven broiler.

Ladle soup into individual oven-proof bowls. Place a piece of toasted bread on top of sou sprinkle generously with grated cheese and place under broiler until melted and bubbly.

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