Humboldt Kitchen

So what’s the point of staying in a place with a huge kitchen if you don’t use it? We took a break from restaurants and pubs Saturday night and I made chicken with roasted broccoli, mushrooms, and garlic (and of course bread, cheese, decent butter, and wine).

It was Italian night, apparently.

Sadly, these models aren’t available here from what I can tell, unless you want to bring it over yourself.

Organize your workspace before you even start. No, these aren’t my tools, this is what was there.

I’m a big “no truss” fan these days, and I haven’t noticed a difference in the finished product. Coat with olive oil, season heavily with salt and pepper, stuff and tuck with rosemary and thyme, and then gas 7 (425F) for about an hour (check your internal thigh temperature, of course). Let it rest for at least half an hour.

I would never typically cook without shoes, but this wasn’t my place and the shoes were dirty, so I threw caution to the wind.

Dress the veg with salt, pepper, chili flakes, and olive oil. Start these about half and hour after the chicken goes in, at gas 4 (350F). Chop off the top of the garlic heads and drizzle some olive oil over them before wrapping in foil.

They had a pretty cool atmosphere in the dining room.

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First, an announcement … Sunday Green Board is hereby known as Monday Green Board. First reason is that Sundays are getting too busy for me right now to both prepare a special vegetarian dish and then get it into a post that evening. The next reason is to align with the current Meatless Mondays movement. I may not agree with them on some things, but I’m all for health, and people eating more vegetables is a good thing.

This week we have another damned soup, and to be honest I feel slightly upset about it, but it’s what I came up with yesterday so that’s what we’re working with. If you are sensing a theme right now, and you think that theme may have something to do with winter comfort food with Italian-American influences, then you would be right. Bring on Spring already, we’ve suffered enough.

Exhibit A: this week’s Tomato Mushroom Soup. You will need:

Tomato Mushroom Soup

• sea or kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, and good extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter
• at least two dozen crimini mushrooms, the larger ones sliced thick (~1/2 inch)
• six sprigs fresh thyme, substituting dried if you need to
• medium sized zucchini, peel and diced, seeded if necessary
• 1/2 yellow onion, roughly diced
• 1 T fresh oregano, substituting dried if you need to (reduce the amount accordingly)
• 1/3 cup good quality port
• 28 ounce can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes … the Italian ones, not the American ones named San Marzano, unless that’s all you have … crushed by hand, with the basil leaf removed, and WITH the juice
• flat leaf parsley and freshly grated pecorino romano or parmesan

The preparation this week takes place in two stages: first we cook the mushrooms so they retain their shape and texture, and then we cook the stuff that makes the soup, adding the mushrooms back at the end right before garnishing. Another thing to note is that this soup doesn’t require stock, which is a nice time saver when you’ve used your reserves and won’t make more until the weekend.

1. Heat the butter and a tablespoon of oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add the thyme sprigs and mushrooms, toss, and cook for around 4 minutes, until the mushrooms have released some liquid and have shrunken a bit. You want them to remain meaty.
2. Remove the mushrooms and stash away in a bowl. Add the onions and zucchini and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. If you need to add more oil, do so.
3. After around four minutes, remove the thyme stalks. Many of the thyme leaves will have come off — this is what you want, just remove the woody bits. Add the oregano and continue to cook.
4. About 8 to 10 minutes later, when the onion and zucchini start to brown, deglaze the pan with the port, transfer the entire thing to a stock pot, and return to the heat.
5. Add the tomatoes (and juice) and one can (the same San Marzano can) of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Using a stick blender, food processor, or regular blender, working in batches of you need to, turn the contents of the pot into soup. The texture can be a bit rustic, you just don’t want any chunks of zucchini or tomato left over.
7. Turn off the burner, and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. A splash of hot sauce wouldn’t hurt here, just don’t go overboard, this is about earth, not heat.
8. Return the mushrooms to the soup. The residual heat will bring them back to temperature.
9. Dish the soup into bowls and garnish with the parsley and cheese. Drizzle olive oil over the top and serve with some good crusty bread. If you feel luxurious, use truffle oil.

You should have enough for four people, and this keeps quite well in the fridge. Enjoy, and share your hints and tips no Twitter, Facebook, or here on the web site.

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