The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
Beef and Guinness stew is a pub classic with its roots firmly bedded in the deep soil of Irish cooking and culture. What could be more Irish than dark, creamy Guinness stout and that Irish mainstay, potatoes? Add carrots and onions (both vegetables that grow well in Ireland’s often fickle climate), and a few modest bits of beef, and you have the makings of a hearty meal fit for St. Patrick himself. Mushrooms may not be an ingredient that immediately …
Lobster mushrooms are one of the most distinctive of edible wild mushrooms. Some say that they get their unusual name from their flavor, which is reminiscent of shellfish. It seems more likely that their bright orange-red exterior and snowy white flesh (which looks a lot like cooked lobster) are the source of their colorful appellation. The lobster mushroom is something of an oddity in the mushroom world, which certainly has more than its share of unusual characters. The lobster mushroom …
This simple, much-beloved soup, made with the large, meaty mushrooms called “borowik” in Polish, is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Of course, there are as many different versions of this soup as there are Polish cooks (and their numerous descendants). Here is our recipe, which we think is a very nice version indeed. Here in the U.S., the borowik is most commonly known as the boletus edulis, king bolete or porcini mushroom. Mushroom lovers at home and around the world …
It’s hard to imagine anything more appetizing than the house-filling fragrance of simmering bo kho, the classic Vietnamese beef stew. For those die-hard carnivores who shy away from Asian food, this dish is the perfect introduction to a new world of flavors. This is rib-sticking comfort food at its finest, with a new dimension that comes from the creative use of the intensely aromatic herbs and spices that infuse it with the characteristic flavors of Southeast Asia. Vietnam has long …
Think of this savory stew as a sort of spicy Korean bouillabaisse. It’s based on the kind of traditional, home-style soup that’s a staple in Korean households. We’ve perhaps taken a few liberties with the ingredients, but we’d like to think that our version is still true to the spirit of the original recipe. This is the kind of warming soup that’s just the ticket for a cold, raw & rainy afternoon. It’s also a soup that’s perfect for …
This simple, velvety soup with the aroma of an autumn woodland allows the delicately sweet flavor of chestnuts to shine. Fresh chestnuts are a popular staple in fall soups, both on restaurant menus and in the homes of creative cooks. Since chestnuts are a seasonal delicacy and aren’t available for most of the year, it’s a great idea to enjoy them as much as possible now while they’re fresh and at their best. Most recipes for chestnut soup pair them with …
Let’s just say straight off that this is not the classic version of Vichysoisse, the chilled potato-leek soup with its origins in the French cooking tradition. Instead, our version is a bit more of a backwoods country cousin, with its roots firmly planted in American soil. The origin of the soup known as Vichysoisse has been frequently debated. As the accepted story goes, it was created by French chef Louis Diat, at the Ritz-Carlton in New York in the summer …
One look will tell you that this soup is first cousin to the world famous classic, French onion soup. But look more closely (and take a whiff of the heady aroma), and some differences quickly become apparent. Most noticeable is the addition of dried porcini mushrooms, which contribute a profound depth of rich flavor to this soup. Fresh porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis) have a wonderful savory flavor that becomes even more intense when dried. Little wonder that dried porcini are …
It is no dream… Matsutake are growing On the belly of the mountain – Haiku by Shigetaka There is something marvelous about the famous “pine mushroom,” the matsutake. Their distinctive spicy aroma and flavor are absolutely unique in the mushroom world. The exotic allure of wild mushrooms has inspired many poets across the centuries. No surprise, then, that the matsutake, so highly regarded in Japan, has inspired volumes of haiku. Equally inspired, David Arora, author of “Mushrooms Demystified,” described the …