Soups & Stews

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Miso Broth with Crab and Grilled Matsutake Mushrooms
Asian Mushrooms Seafood Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Miso Broth with Crab and Grilled Matsutake Mushrooms

Matsutake mushrooms are in season again. Wild mushroom aficionados look forward to the arrival of the esteemed pine mushroom with great anticipation each year. Matsutake can be prepared in any number of traditional ways, but it’s always a pleasant challenge to create new dishes that highlight their woodsy flavor. Matsutake have an intriguingly spicy aroma akin to a blend of pine, cinnamon and rosemary. Their texture is quite firm and holds up well to just about any cooking method. We …

Thai Mushroom and Coconut Soup
Asian Mushrooms Soups & Stews

Thai Mushroom & Coconut Soup

This rich and satisfying soup starts with a mixture of dried mushrooms typical of Asian cooking – shiitakes, with their deep and distinctive woodsy flavor; oyster mushrooms, with a light buttery taste that goes well with everything; lastly, woodear mushrooms, which have very little flavor at all, but which contribute a wonderfully crunchy texture. Like all dried mushrooms, this blend requires rehydration before use. A good soak in a hot bath for 20 – 30 minutes is all that’s needed …

Ramp Vichyssoise with Crisp-fried Ramp Greens
Potatoes Soups & Stews Tips and Techniques Wild Foods

Ramp Vichysoisse with Crisp-fried Ramp Greens

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 …

Porcini-Onion Soup with Jarlsberg Croutons
Cheese Mushrooms Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Porcini-Onion Soup with Jarlsberg Croutons

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 …

Pozole Rojo (Mexican Pork and Hominy Soup with Chiles)
Meat Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews

Pozole Rojo (Mexican Pork and Hominy Soup with Chiles)

If you found yourself wishing for a hangover cure this New Year’s Day, you might want to remember this recipe for next year. Pozole, a rich, meaty Mexican stew brimming with hominy and pork, is a dish that is served both on festive occasions and as a humble, ribsticking everyday meal. It’s also touted as a universal remedy for late nights and hangovers, which makes it the perfect dish for the morning after. In Mexico, there is a great national love of …

Appetizers Asian Mushrooms Pasta Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Wild Mushroom Wontons, Three Ways

Wontons are fun. They’re great party food, perfect as appetizers and for special occasions. But wontons are, at their heart, simple Asian comfort food. Wontons have been around in some form for literally thousands of years. Most basic wonton recipes are quite similar (after a thousand years or so, you should pretty much have the basic recipe perfected). Popular as street food in almost every Asian country, wontons have plenty of local variations. While fillings can vary, the basic technique remains …

Smoky Butternut Squash and Cacao Soup Closeup
Soups & Stews Vegetables

Smoky Butternut Squash and Cacao Soup

It’s funny – it seems that the instant that summer ends and fall begins, we immediately begin to crave the comfort of warm, rich, homemade soup. It could be just about any kind of soup, from old-fashioned chicken noodle to a steaming bowl of fiery chili, as long as it’s hot and it’s good. This intriging recipe for Smoky Butternut Squash and Cacao Soup, adapted from author, scholar and restaurateur Maricel E. Presilla’s encyclopedic cookbook of Latin American recipes, Gran …

Chile Colorado with Pork
Meat Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews

Pork Chile Colorado

If there is such a thing as Mexican soul food, this is it – carne con chile colorado, literally “meat with red-colored chile sauce.” For this year’s Cinco de Mayo celebration, honor the true spirit of Mexican cuisine by making this flavorful and well-loved dish. It’s easy to see where this dish gets its name – from the deep, reddish-brown color imparted by the flavorful dried chiles that are it’s most important ingredients. Dried ancho chile peppers are commonly used …

Gochujang Chicken Stew
Asian Poultry Soups & Stews

Spicy Korean Gochujang Chicken Stew

Is your refrigerator bursting at its seams with dozens of bottles of hot sauce? Better make some room, because gochujang is a must-have ingredient for any thrill-loving heat-seeker. Gochujang is a bold and spicy Korean condiment that is on its way to becoming one of this year’s hottest ingredients. If it’s not already on your radar, you’ll soon be seeing it popping up on restaurant menus, but this robustly flavored red pepper paste has been around for centuries and is …

Roasted Matsutake Mushrooms
Appetizers Asian Mushrooms Sauces & Condiments Soups & Stews Wild Foods

Matsutake Magic in 3 Delicious Ways

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 …