Corn & Mushroom Soup

Fall is near. The leaves have started to turn, the weather has become noticeably more comfortable, and football season is upon us. I love, love, love this time of year! I can live on soup so as soon as it is comfortable enough to make some, I do!

This is a great transition season soup. It’s not too heavy, corn is reminiscent of summer, and it goes well with a white wine. It’s not quite the chowder I had in mind (if you “like” me on Facebook you may have seen I mentioned chowder). Not my favorite soup, I save that for Lentil which I will post some day, I swear. But it was good. Especially with the bacon and mushrooms on top. In fact, I think it would be much less tasty without the mushrooms and bacon.

We saved several corn cobs over the summer and froze them to make corn stock. Don’t fret if you didn’t plan way ahead like me. I’m a dork like that. Some of you may still be able to find fresh corn and if so…lucky you! The corn stock is totally worth the extra step. It smells so intoxicating. Who knew those little cobs had so much flavor?

This recipe is from Michael Symon’s book “Live to Cook,”which is on my wish list. Along with about 15 other cook books.

Corn and Mushroom Soup

Recipe from Michael Symon, found on “Eats Well with Others”

Difficulty: Easy

Time: Hands on 20 to 30 mins total, 1 to 2 hours for simmering

Ingredients

Corn Cob Stock 

• 6 ears of corn
• 1 red onion, chopped (I used a yellow because that’s all I had)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 tsp salt

Soup

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 recipe seared wild mushrooms (take 1 lb of mixed wild mushrooms, saute them with olive oil, salt, thyme, shallots and garlic)
• 1/2 cup crumbled, cooked bacon

Notes: I did things a bit differently based on my ingredients. I had frozen cobs that I had saved so I just used frozen corn kernels. If you don’t have corn cobs, just omit the cobs and use frozen kernels but still enhance your stock with the onion, garlic, thyme, and coriander. I sautéed the mushrooms (I used cremini but really wanted some shitake!) with the bacon. Delicious. I also used whole milk in place of the heavy cream and added an onion. Instead of thyme in the soup, I used sage because I wanted a little more hint of fall in the soup. The point of the story is….play with your ingredients to make the soup the way you want it!

Directions

1. Cut the corn from the cobs and set aside.

2. Place the cobs into a large pot with the onion, garlic, thyme, coriander, stock, and salt. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer, discarding the solids. You should have about 4 cups. Use immediately or store in refrigerator overnight.

3. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, a pinch of salt and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add the corn kernels and sweat for another couple of minutes. Add the thyme (or sage, or oregano….), stock, and milk and simmer for another 45 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté your mushrooms and bacon together.

4. Scoop out about 1 cup of the corn kernels and set aside. Puree the remaining soup with whatever tool you have…immersion blender, food processor, etc. Return the kernels to the soup.

5. Garnish with mushrooms and bacon. Enjoy!

 

Rigatoni Bolognese

Rigatoni? Whoa, wait, what?! I thought this was a baking blog.

As much I’d like to live on bread and cookies, my body disagrees. I love to cook and it’s good to mix things up a bit, don’t you agree? One of my latest obsessions is The Chew.  Any food lover should watch this show. It’s hilarious, every recipe I’ve tried has been wonderful, and the pointers are great. No, ABC is not paying me to review this show (but I’d be open to discussions. Hint, hint).

This recipe is from Michael Symon. We’ve already made this dish three times because we love it so much! Perfect Sunday dinner. It takes about 30 minutes to prep but then it just simmers quietly in the background for two hours, getting all delicious and scrumptious. You’ll have a bowl and be full but still want more. The ingredients are simple but the flavors are complex. It’s equally as tasty the next day.Which is good because this makes around 8 servings.

We don’t eat much meat. I probably buy some form of meat two or three times a month. When we do, we splurge for the good stuff. I used grass fed beef here even though it was twice as expensive than the “non-grass fed” beef. No pink slime either. I don’t care how safe the beef industry and government says it is; I do not want ammonia sprayed on my meat. Doesn’t it make you wonder why the “meat” products are so unsafe that ammonia needs to be used in the first place?

That’s my rant for the day. Moving back to the recipe… I modified it a bit to “meat” (ha, I kill me) our needs. I added half the pasta and meat (because really, two pounds of beef and two pounds of pasta? I do not have a pan that big), but left all the vegetables the same and added some tomato sauce.

Thank you, Michael Symon for this delicious dish. I just made it and can’t wait to have it again!

The bread in the picture is one of my favorite recipes from King Arthur Flour: Sourdough Baguettes. It’s relatively quick, very easy, and another great reason to have a sourdough starter in your refrigerator. I’ll blog about it soon.

I hope all of you enjoy it just as much. And, if you do watch The Chew, what has your favorite recipe been? I’d love to hear about it!

One year ago: Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Adapted from Michael Symon

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 minutes hands on; 2 1/2 hours total.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 pound Ground Beef
• 1 Onion (rough dice)
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 Carrots (rough dice)
• 2 ribs of Celery (rough dice)
• 1 28-ounce can Whole Plum Tomatoes (I used diced)
• 1 15-ounce can Tomato Sauce
• 1 cup Dry Red Wine (the rest of the bottle will be for you)
• 1  Bay Leaf
• 6 sprigs Fresh Oregano (chopped)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup Flat Leaf Italian Parsley (torn)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan (grated)
• 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
• 1 pound Rigatoni (I buy pasta that is made with durum wheat flour and nothing else; check your ingredients!)

Procedure

1. Heat a large pan with the olive oil. Make sure your pan is really hot here otherwise you’ll be waiting all day for your meat to brown, or worse…it will just be gray meat! Gray meat does not equal flavor. Once your pan is hot, add the meat with a pinch of salt and brown.

2. While your meat is browning put your onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Try not to puree, but it won’t be the end of the world. I did that accidentally and it still tasted fantastic.

3. When your meat is brown, deglaze with the wine. You may not need it all. Then add your veggie mix and cook for about three minutes. Add your tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, and oregano. If you used whole tomatoes, break them up as you stir. Bring to a simmer and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.

4. Simmer, slightly covered, for about two hours. When the sauce is done, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a hefty pinch of salt to the water then add your pasta. Stir and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes.

5. Add the pasta to the sauce; be sure to save some pasta water in case you need some. If the sauce is too thick, add the water until the desired consistency.

6. Remove from heat. Add the butter, parmesan, and parsley. Drizzle each serving with some extra olive oil.

7. Tear off a piece of crusty bread, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy that rigatoni.