Magical Mushroom Gypsy Soup

Simplicity is beauty

After a snowy saunter with my shepherd by the mighty St. Lawrence, in conditions frosty enough to make your toes fall off (-20 C), a warm bowl 'o something scrumptious was essential. I write this as I consume a midnight bowl of magical mushroom soup - it is my third today (I boast) and has lost no marginal value to bowls one and two.

It tastes like a liquid hug from Mother Nature.

Indeed, it was an enchanting gypsy man who delicately crafted this pot of alchemy, just before packing his bindle and continuing his sejourn.

Now, I can only be left guessing what mystical ingredients it contains.

Graduated chefs achieve their own unique flavour with the culinary delights they create. The creator of this soup is no stranger to this phenomenon - it tastes like its a part of the family of foods I have grown to delight in, and I associate it with his culinary touch. But like all best-kept secret recipes, no two pots of it ever taste quite the same. This makes each new encounter thrilling. It also leaves me guessing as to what exactly the ingredients and their proportions are. But I`ll give it the best whirl I can, based on observation, and let you explore and experiment in your own way at home.


1) It begins with a hearty vegetable broth ...

Vegetable broth is forgiving. So long as you ensure to add at least a good load of chopped onions and another pile of chopped vegetable, you`re good to go. Carrots make it sweet, and are strongly recommended; potatoes make it hearty; celery makes it fresh, leeks make it gardeny, etc. Add these to a big `ol pot of boiling water, as well as at least two tablespoons of olive oil. Garlic and ginger will create zing.

Add spices to add interest: cumin, coriander, fresh parsley, basil, thyme, sage, bay leaves; anything and everything will do.

Red hot chili peppers will give it pizzazz and kick - even a couple dried ones will do the trick (whoever gets it in their mouth should get a prize!)

Add sea salt, stir it all up, and boil it good.

Then let it simmer for a while. The more hours, the merrier the flavour! Patience is a virtuous ingredient.

You can also `cheat` and add a bit of powdered vegetable base in addition. My favourite is Harvest Sun Organic Vegetable Bouillon Powder. It comes in a little green tin, and I`ve found it across the country - from Sidney, B.C. to Montreal, Q.C.

This dusty magic is a show-stopper

2) Here is the second, and final step. It is also the most fun and entertaining part of the process ...

Add tons of MUSHROOMS!!

Example: hit up local funky Chinese grocer and go to the dried-stuff section. Once there, go nuts buying all the wildest, most exotic mushrooms you can find! You can do this while the broth is simmering ...
Add at least three varieties. Favourites include:
- black fungus (it`s extra special tasty!)
- Chinese dried mushroom
- peony
- shitake
- padi straw
- morel
- anything that looks squishy

Note: fresh mushrooms work too


Add-ons: 


Drunken Magical Mushroom Soup:
If you've got your party pants on, add a quarter cup of sherry, or 2 tablespoons of brandy and 2 cups of ale or stout beer (towards the end of the process, since alcohol evaporates).

Here`s a fun recipe for Forest Mushroom and Irish Ale Soup.

Creamy Magical Mushroom Soup:
Combining with soy or almond milk, and blending in the blender to make a creamy-hearty mushroom soup is another option.


Presentation: 

Ladle it in a bread bowl, garnish with fresh cilantro, and voila! Dinner is served.
 

Eating your dishes is more fun than washing them

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned

Dear Life:

How the heck do you go by so fast? I must be having fun.

Please last a little longer.

Yours truly,

Jewely

Back to my westcoast roots

Like a tumultuous breakup, my Vegan Adventure spiraled out of control towards the end of the summer of 2010. It started with an unavoidable slip-up: I attended the Global Ecological Integrity Group Conference at the University of British Columbia, and everything they served, albeit 'vegetarian,' had either dairy or those darned oeufs in them. That kind of "broke the seal" if you will. Then, I moved to la Belle Province, Montreal, and started my masters studies. I was living in a studio apartment the size of a battery cage and pumping out assignments as eggs. Like a factory farmed hen, I lost control, and I went to town eating all sorts of non-vegan items, hitting up the famous fromageries, French pastries, and Sunday brunch omelettes with my new Montreal beau. 

Oh! What a bad girl I've been.

Forgive me, and my ermines, Father

Fast-forward 21 months, and I'm nearly done my thesis, but out of money, and living in the grungy ghetto of the island of Montreal - Verdun. Here, I live in the company of two friendly ferrets (Bert & Annie), and a giant german shepherd named Teddy that guards the house and only acts like a teddy bear to me (we're working on him). Yes, Verdun has a bit of a bad rep; yes, most of the people on my block are on welfare; yes, the tenant in my place before me dealt crack, bred Jack Russell Terriers, and had two girlfriends in two years that 'mysteriously' went missing ...

....but I am happy.

Which reminds me of the days, back in the wild and wooly westcoast, when I was an even happier, Happy Vegan.

I have been dabbling with the idea of re-embarking on my Vegan Adventure for a couple of months now, but it was a Skype conversation with a longtime friend from Thailand this morning that really catalyzed my decision. I feel like I've been taking out some of my frustrations on, cheese, of all things lately ... some days resorting to consuming an entire 700g block of Mozarella, no jokes.

In my mind, I knew the madness had to stop. And it does stop, today.

My friend from Thailand had recently taken on a vegan/local/non-processed food challenge in her current home in Bangkok. I find this SO cool! She did it for a month. We discussed this, as well as our vegan vices (she loves yogurt, I love cheese).

After our enlightening conversation, I decided I would re-start my Vegan Adventure, but with a few subtle adjustments, at the seams:

Number one: the challenge starts today, but I will finish the cheese and butter in my fridge, and the non-vegan chocolate in my cupboard.

With the end of one era, comes the beginning of another

Number two: I will not be an "anti-social vegan." I don't have many vegans friends (yet!)  so when I would join friends or family for meals, it had been quite difficult to navigate their homely, lovingly cooked meals. The gesture of eating a meal that someone cooks for you is like saying "thank-you", and being offered home-cooked food is perhaps one of the greatest, most deeply-engrained, honours of our species.

Thus, though I will try to bring something vegan to every dinner party I attend, I will not turn down non-vegan food items (though I will continue to practice complete vegetarianism in all situations). Therefore, if an occasion arises where, say, Aunty Di makes some of her delicious soy-pumpkin curry, with a pad of margarine (yes, my friends, most margarines are NOT vegan! - they have casein) I will eat it.

Number three: I'll hunt for a blender at the friperie.

On that note - let the Adventure begin!!!

Peace & love,

Jewely