Spicy Chicken Soup

This recipe is an update on my previous chicken soup recipe, and I think it's better. It involves most of the same ingredients, but has a lot more flavor. It gets a rich herbal flavor from oregano, some sweet earthiness from shiitake mushrooms, and a little kick of heat from some cayenne pepper.

2 stalks celery
2 cups chopped baby carrots
1/2 large turnip
1 bulb fennel
1 pkg sliced shiitake mushrooms (about 8 oz)
6-7 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1 split chicken breast, on bone, with skin

Chop celery, carrots, turnip, and fennel into a 1/4 inch dice. Mince the garlic or push through a press. Put all of this into a large stockpot, and add the salt, pepper, cayenne, and oregano. Place the chicken on top, and add enough water to cover everything.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chick breasts from pot and set aside to cool. Turn heat off the soup and let that cool as well.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and discard it. Cut chicken off the bone and into small pieces. Return to pot, and add the shiitake mushrooms as well.

Bring back to a boil and reduce immediately. Simmer about 5-10 minutes, and taste. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve with a large spoonful of white rice cooked according to package directions.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Dark, hearty portobello mushrooms enrich this soup and give it a slightly mysterious, smoky flavor. It's perfect on a cold day like today (only 14 degrees!), especially with some toasted baguette and a glass of cider.

1 small onion
3 whole cloves
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup milk
2 large portobello mushroom caps, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup sherry
2 cups vegetable stock
4 strands thyme
1/2 tsp celery seed

First make a bechamel: melt the butter in an oven-safe saucepan. Sprinkle in the flour, whisking until incorporated and golden brown (this is a basic roux). Add the milk. Insert the cloves into the whole onion, and place into the milk mixture. Place saucepan into a 350 oven for 20 minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile, chop the mushroom and saute in a little olive oil. Add the thyme leaves, the celery seed and cook down until mushrooms are quite soft and have reduced in size. Add the sherry to deglaze the pan, and then add veggie stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Cook about 10 minutes.

Using a stick blender, puree the mushrooms into the stock until smooth. Retrieve the bechamel from the oven, discard the onion, and fold the sauce into your soup. Whisk to incorporate. Serve hot with several pieces of crusty bread.

Creamy Pasta with Mushrooms and Ground Beef

This recipe, from my husband's Aunt Sally, yields a dish so yummy and comforting that a mere photo would not do it justice. Moreover, I don't have a photo. But imagine a white sauce-covered pasta studded with chopped mushrooms and small crumbles of nicely browned ground beef. Mmmm. So tasty. So creamy. So what if it's incredibly fattening? I guess you should probably serve small portions with a huge supply of green vegetables, but that might not stop people from taking second or third helpings.

1 box angel hair pasta
some pasta water reserved
1 1/2 c. sour cream (use nonfat!)
1/2 cup chicken or veggie stock
1 c. each, grated jack and cheddar cheeses
1 pkg. mushrooms, sauteed
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained thoroughly
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain, reserving about 1 cup of the water just to keep the pasta wet while adding other ingredients. Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Drain the beef in a colander over the sink. Saute the mushrooms in the fat left from the beef. Drain mushrooms too!

Add pasta, 1/2 cup pasta water, stock, cheeses, sour cream, and spices together in a large pot. Stir thoroughly. Add mushrooms and beef. Add more pasta water or stock as necessary to keep sauce from getting too thick. When it's at the consistency you like, taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary. You might want to add a bit of crushed red pepper too, for a little kick.

You can also add red sauce to this, but I don't think it's necessary, and I can't comment on how it tastes because I didn't try it that way.

Mmmmm, soup!

This recipe may be better suited for a fall or winter's evening, but I happened to make it tonight and it was so good I just had to share it. I had a bunch of things sitting around that I wanted to use up, and just kind of threw them all together to see how it would turn out. It's an absolutely delicious, soothing, rich soup. I love it.

1 13-oz pkg defrosted winter squash
1/2 onion, diced
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
thyme (about 3 strands if using fresh)
1 pkg white mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp butter
olive oil
salt & pepper
3 tbsp heavy cream (plus a bit more)
about 1 cup chicken stock

First, saute the onion and garlic in butter, and a little oil to raise the smoke point. Salt to soften the onion faster. When onion is very soft and slightly golden, remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan, saute the mushrooms with a tiny bit more olive oil and the thyme. Salt and pepper liberally.

When the mushrooms have cooked down and are quite soft, transfer to food processor, add the onion mixture, the squash, about 1/2 cup chicken stock, and about 3 tbsp cream. Puree for about a minute, then add more stock and cream to get a thick, creamy soup. It should not take more than another 1/2 cup of stock, and perhaps another 2 tbsp cream.

When pureed to your liking, pour soup into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer about 5 minutes.

I would serve this with roast chicken and an endive/fennel/blue cheese salad.