lilalee

Robin, this is similar to a recipe I have called Dirty Potatoe Soup, but leave the peelings on. My guys love potatoe soup and want meat, so I do chop some ham for the soup, also some carrots for color. We too have it year round, and in Ohio here, we use your Idaho potatoes! The best!

marius

Baldur radio - all so entertaining! Thanks to everyone for that, and recipes ... and for namby-pamby.

And, how many points do I get, do the folks of the midwest get, cause we use 'namby-pamby' all the time. Seriously!

lilalee

Marius, thats funny!!'namby-pamby', is used here, along with a few others. I'm a block from the Michigan line, and grew up there, and they always called us Michigan hillbillies!! As we lived at the very bottom of Michigan. I have a Canadian friend who ends every sentence with 'eh?' Which I love. Around here, it's 'holy cow!' The best I've heard from around here is "When I dream, I dream in color, but when I dream of Toledo, Ohio, I dream in black and white!"

Dragon

Baldur was talking about Cream of Broccoli soup and it got me thinking of this recipe. It's easily the best Cream of Broccoli soup I've ever had and my boyfriend agrees on that one.

Dragons Gourmet Cream of Broccoli Soup

INGREDIENTS
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 small potatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 cups fresh chopped broccoli
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter in pan, do not brown. Add vegetables, toss to coat with butter, then press parchment paper on top of vegetables--this is called "sweating"-- for better flavor. Put lid on pan and simmer very gently until vegetables have softened. Do not brown.

2. Remove paper, add chicken stock, bring to a boil, then simmer until vegetables are soft.

3. Put in blender and puree until smooth. Pour back in pan, add salt, pepper, and cream. Simmer gently, do not boil or cream will curdle, until heated through.

Dragon

I like to get pretty liberal with the pepper, but then I love pepper.

Baldur

I love that all us Northern Hemispherites who are now experiencing our Summer are passing on hearty soup recipes. As for black pepper, a lot is a good thing.

Baldur made Spaghetti with Marinara sauce this evening, and a hammered and fried pork cutlet for Robert.
We also had a tossed salad made with romaine lettuce from the garden.
It's far too early for tomatoes and cucumbers up here at Chez Baldur, so I bought a cucumber (unwaxed, the small pickling type) and added a couple sliced black olives, a sliced hard cooked egg and tossed it all in a homemade dijon viniagrette.
I was in the mood for onions (Robert will find even microscopic bits of raw onion and extricate them with an uncannily unerring sense), but didn't want them raw, per se. So this afternoon I took a medium sized one and sliced it quite thin, then I tossed it in a bit of the viniagrette and left it at room temperature for the 3 hours until dinnertime. It was chemically 'cooked' by then and I shamelessly ended up eating the whole thing on my salad.

Baldur

Baldur noticed that some wild mushrooms have appeared following the monthlong rains. So upon investigating the strip of woods alongside Primrose Pond I was overjoyed to discover some Boletus among them, I hope to pick a few tomorrow for my dinner.
One must NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER pick mushrooms in the wild unless one is 100% certain of their edibility.
Plenty of people die each year because of following superstition in regards to testing mushrooms for safety. A recurrent (+10 points for Baldur) and often fatal belief is that a silver coin will turn black if it is place in a pot with poisonous mushrooms as they cook.
Certainly in some cases the silver will indeed tarnish, but not reliably with every type of toxin, and there is indeed more than one toxin when it comes to the plethora (no points here) of species of mushrooms.
Babuschka Baldur, my dear long deceased grandmother was well versed in mushroom lore. I cannot claim the encyclopedic knowledge that she posessed in this area, but I have managed to learn what I can about the Boletus species and have confidently eaten them for my entire life.

Baldur

The Boletus are a widespread species with many variations, but none of them are seriously poisonous. So should Baldur slip up and mistake a Boletus Satanus for an innocuous Boletus Luteus (hardly possible but I'll continue in this vein) Baldur would survive dinner with little more than a grumbling stomach.
That being said, some of the Boletus taste much better than others;te prize being the aptly named Boletus Edulis, which I sometimes find out here in Primrose.

Baldur

+d = placed

Baldur

+h =the

I enjoy making a very simple meal bu just cleaning slicing and frying the mushrooms. Wild mushrooms have an intense flavor which is brought out superbly if they are fried in a little butter until the excess moisture has all evaporated.
In recent years Baldur has been using olive oil with just a wee bit of butter to get the same effect. It is almost a law that there needs to be real butter involved

sheftali52

Baldur's dinner sounded yummy, as did Dragon's cream of broccoli soup. Sheftali has a Broccoli Bisque Soup that she's made for the past 25 years, and which she offers for consideration:

1 cup sliced leeks
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup broccoli flowerets
1 cup half and half
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Saute the leeks and mushrooms in the butter. Add flour and cook until bubbling. Remove from heat and blend in chicken broth. Return to heat and stir until thickened. Add broccoli (I chop up the flowerets into small pieces) and simmer 20 minutes until tender. Blend in half and half and cheese. Simmer until cheese is melted.

I found this recipe in the local newspaper, and it's been enjoyed by folks time and again. The leeks add a subtle flavor, the flour thickens sufficiently, the mushrooms add substance, and the Swiss cheese adds a kicked up touch.

Yes, all this talk of soup is interesting for us folks who are sweltering in summer temperatures.

Baldur

Perhaps I should mention cooking regular cultivated mushrooms while on this topic. So many people destroy this marvelous delicacy and have thus never really experienced what a mushroom can really be.

Buy a basket of either white mushrooms or the light brown cremini type at your local market
They should be firm and smell 'earthy'. They should also still be tightly closed around the stem, a sign of freshness. They open up and expose their gills ar they age.
Clean the mushrooms using a minimum of water. No water, just a soft brush is best, but indeed sometimes water really is necessary.
These mushrooms are tender and edible, even in regards to the stem. Many people toss the stems out, which is throwing out a good part of what you've paid for.
With a sharp paring knife trim off just the very bottom 'root' end of each stem.
Now slice the mushrooms evenly, try for slightly thinner than 1/4" slices.
Place a tablespoon of butter in your skillet.
This is a great time to use that heavy old black cast iron skillet that's been gathering dust, but even a wok or the most modern non-stick pan will do the job too. A larger skillet works best here, you have room to spread things out whilst stirring
Melt the butter in the skillet but do not allow it to get so hot that it turns brown and burns.
Deposit the sliced mushrooms in the pan.
Using 2 wooden spoons toss them around gently and let them warm up.
You will notice that they exude a bit of moisture and start to look wilted as they heat through. This is really only the first stage of cooking them.
You need to get past the point where this extra moisture evaporates so that the mushrooms will start browning.
The mushrooms actually 'sing' as they approach the right stage of doneness. They stirring and heat produces an odd little whistling or squeaking type of sound, this is hard to explain without having you here by my side in my kitchen. It is not a loud noise but it tells you they are approaching perfection, so listen for it.
The mushrooms will start to turn golden brown and a nutty aroma will fill your kitchen. When perfectly golden and beautiful they are ready.
Salt and pepper them lightly and enjoy as a side dish.

Baldur

You can make a marvelous dinner out of this be elaborating it a bit.
Make a white sauce using whole milk or part whole milk/ part cream.
Add a splash of dry sherry, salt and pepper and a few gratings of fresh nutmeg.
Fold in your freshly fried golden mushrooms.
Serve over lightly buttered toast.
This is amazing as an autumn supper with cider or beer in front of the fireplace.

Baldur

Thank you sheftali, Baldur LOVES leeks and I'm growing them for the first time this year.
They however look like anemic blades of grass at the moment but I'm still optimistic that before the winter I'll be making leek 'everything' in my kitchen.

Baldur

-r +s =as
-y =the

Baldur

-e +y =by

Baldur is quite overtired and is heading to bed,
Goodnight

"All Baldur, All the Time"

Robindcr8l

Robin loves leeks, too and is anxious to try both broccoli soup variations and give a critique, but not until after my vacation which starts in a matter of 12 hours or so. I would like to know, before I venture away for 10 days, if anyone has the most delicious corn chowder recipe? I am on an endless search and have not yet been successful. One of you budding chefs must have one?!

For now, I am off to bed then to the rainy weather in western NY. I will be returning to my hometown for the first time in 9 years! I am also making a stop in Connecticut next week, and it tempts me to seek out Chez Baldur and invite myself in for a spot of tea, or better yet, a whiskey and water! But alas, I'm on a schedule. Half a state away and I still may as well be in Idaho! LOL Have a good 4th everyone, and I will be anxious to peruse the Top5 and Channel Baldur upon my return on the 10th!

sheftali52

Good night, Baldur--sweet dreams. Glad you like leeks--I love 'em, too. Surprisingly, I saw fields of leeks when I was stationed in Turkey. I drove from Izmir about an hour into the interior of Turkey, and there I was surrounded by leeks. I've come to appreciate the subtle flavor of leeks, and fortunately, they are available year-round in the markets here. Hope yours grow well and reward you with their subtlety.

sheftali52

Happy vacation, Robin.

Dragon

I love leeks as well. I have very few recipes in which I use them but every time I do I always think 'Why don't I use these more often'. I wonder if thy would grow well up here, if I ever have a house and can grow a garden perhaps I'll give them a try but I suspect we might be to dry and cold for them.