Slurp. Now unless you are a brand new Dear Reader, you will know that this is the word that I use to describe the way to eat brilliantly tasty and superior YumYum. Today she was in Romford doing things that mothers do and collecting things that she had bought last week but had been unable to carry home.
She also brought home several large punnets of very fresh mushrooms. They all had their stalks and were wiped with a soft dry cloth as some of them had a bit of their growing compost.
Garlic and shallots were sweated gently in good olive oil, she took the contents of half a punnet and chopped them and the stalks. Salt and various peppers - white, pink, black - were added. As were the herbs, tarragon and thyme. But that's not all, oh no, for it's Winter and she really ups her consumption of spices at this time of year and for mushroom soup, it's Allspice and Nutmeg!
When everything had softened, she added a litre of homemade vegetable stock and to add a little bit of extra bulk, she put in two medium sized parsnips. The heat came down to a low simmer and it cooked until the parsnips were soft. Then out came that noisy liquidiser to wizz all of the ingredients together.
I gave Beaky a good rub with a claw to make sure it was ready for Mushroom Soup for the smell was absolutely fabuloso! But what was this? She had taken out of the cupboard a skinny bottle and was undoing the lid and putting a couple of teaspoons of this greenish powder into the soup. She stirred the soup and turned off the heat.
What was that? File.. sorry it should have an acute accent on the e.. File! Ah, Gumbo File. You add File to gumbo and soups just before serving, it thickens and adds a delicate flavour and 'hails' from New Orleans. Her little bottle bears the name Zatarain's, they can be found @ www.zatarain.com.
We don't know if you can find it here in the UK, luckily we have American friends who are kind enough to bring it to us when they come to stay and if you are American but don't use or know of this culinary marvel, we recommend that you seek it out and use it in YOUR Mushroom Soup or Gumbo.
Immediately.. if not sooner! Which is the time span that she and I waited, we didn't, it was ladled into a bowl and we slurped it together.. ahhh, homemade fresh mushroom soup.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 7th, 2016.
She also brought home several large punnets of very fresh mushrooms. They all had their stalks and were wiped with a soft dry cloth as some of them had a bit of their growing compost.
Garlic and shallots were sweated gently in good olive oil, she took the contents of half a punnet and chopped them and the stalks. Salt and various peppers - white, pink, black - were added. As were the herbs, tarragon and thyme. But that's not all, oh no, for it's Winter and she really ups her consumption of spices at this time of year and for mushroom soup, it's Allspice and Nutmeg!
When everything had softened, she added a litre of homemade vegetable stock and to add a little bit of extra bulk, she put in two medium sized parsnips. The heat came down to a low simmer and it cooked until the parsnips were soft. Then out came that noisy liquidiser to wizz all of the ingredients together.
I gave Beaky a good rub with a claw to make sure it was ready for Mushroom Soup for the smell was absolutely fabuloso! But what was this? She had taken out of the cupboard a skinny bottle and was undoing the lid and putting a couple of teaspoons of this greenish powder into the soup. She stirred the soup and turned off the heat.
What was that? File.. sorry it should have an acute accent on the e.. File! Ah, Gumbo File. You add File to gumbo and soups just before serving, it thickens and adds a delicate flavour and 'hails' from New Orleans. Her little bottle bears the name Zatarain's, they can be found @ www.zatarain.com.
We don't know if you can find it here in the UK, luckily we have American friends who are kind enough to bring it to us when they come to stay and if you are American but don't use or know of this culinary marvel, we recommend that you seek it out and use it in YOUR Mushroom Soup or Gumbo.
Immediately.. if not sooner! Which is the time span that she and I waited, we didn't, it was ladled into a bowl and we slurped it together.. ahhh, homemade fresh mushroom soup.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 7th, 2016.
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