A Grooveable Feast http://grooveablefeast.posterous.com Most recent posts at A Grooveable Feast posterous.com Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:09:00 -0800 Lunches of Leisure [LoL] no.1: Autumn Bounty Rice with Mushroom Soup http://grooveablefeast.posterous.com/lunches-of-leisure-autumn-bounty-rice-with-mu http://grooveablefeast.posterous.com/lunches-of-leisure-autumn-bounty-rice-with-mu

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Cooking for one usually means I'm eating tofu straight over the sink. Now, the tofu here in Korea is some tasty bean, so don't pity the food. The regrettable part of this scenario is the lack of creativity and effort that cooking for company inspires. Also missing is the heightened appreciation for food when it is shared with good folks. Essentially, what sucks about eating alone is that it's the opposite of Thanksgiving, hands down my favorite holiday.

This year, I was fortunate enough to have met some very wonderful women who've reminded me of how joyous a celebration eating can and should be at all times. JP and RyeBread invited me to cook with them in a vegetarian Thanksgiving event, so in preparation I wanted to try making 영양밥 (yeongyang bap: nutritious rice) for some willing mouths. I've never cooked with gingko nuts, jujubes, or dried chestnuts, all of which are key components of the dish. Luckily, I live in walking distance to two other lovely ladies of leisure who were free on a Thursday to be my guinea pigs and cook lunch with me. 

And so, Heej, Sdub, and I kicked off the first Lunches of Leisure with Sdub's sublime Mushroom Soup and my Autumn Bounty Rice, all while listening to an eclectic mix of music. The food was so good, the tunes so groovy, and the company even better, that we decided it'd be a shame to stop there. To help keep the tradition going, we'll be posting the recipes and music that flavor each lunch. To good eats and beats!

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Autumn Bounty Rice Recipe

2 cups uncooked sticky brown rice

6 dried shittake mushrooms

6 dried jujubes

6 dried chesnuts (or fresh, peeled ones)

handful of gingko nuts

handful of peanuts

1/2 cup of chopped fresh local mushrooms 

1 cup of a colorful mix of beans

2 tbs sesame oil

2 tbs soy sauce

To remove the skins of the gingko nuts: place them in boiling water until the skins start peeling off easily

Wash the brown rice and put in rice cooker with all other ingredients, as is (do not pre-soak the dried items, for they lose the intensity of flavor). Add water up to about a finger's width level above the rice (~1 inch), and let your rice cooker do its business! 

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For the Lunch of Leisure, I had omitted the sesame oil and soy sauce and the rice turned out pretty bland. Fortunately, Sdubs had all the fixings for some delicious soy sauce dressing.

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/4 cup of chopped scallions

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tbs sesame oil (freshly pressed by Heej's grandma: infinitely superior!)

1 tbs brown sugar

~1/4 cup water

Adjust to taste, esp when adding water!

 

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 I believe Sdubs got the idea for the Mushroom soup from Heidi Swanson's 101 cookbooks. She made it look super simple to do, and it turned out like a crisp fall morning spent under cozy covers, in your mouth. Here's the recipe

Mixed Mushroom Chowder

As I mention in the main pot, I used cooked pearl barley that I happened to have bagged and frozen on hand. I could've just as easily reached for brown rice, wild rice, or even wheatberries - use whatever you've got! On the mushroom front - use a combination of mushrooms - brown, porcini, chanterelle, etc. The soup was particularly good with a slab of grilled sesame seed bread from Tartine.

 

You might add a bit of cubed pan-fried tofu, tempeh, or seitan, crouton-style to make this a complete one-dish meal. And as far as leftovers go, for a slightly more decadent version, I'm thinking about whipping up a bit of heavy cream, adding the toasted sesame oil to it, salting it, and serving the soup with a dollop of the cream plus some chives on top...

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or clarified butter

1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces

fine grain sea salt & freshly ground pepper
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons shoyu or soy sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked pearled barley
6 cups / 1.5 l good-tasting vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
finely chopped chives, to serve

In your largest, widest soup pot heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook stirring a couple times along the way, until the mushrooms release their liquid and they are deeply browned. About 8 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the pan, set aside on a plate.

Using the same pot, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and cook until tender, a few minutes. Stir 2 tablespoons of the shoyu, barley, and then the vegetable broth. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat a bit. Add the mushrooms and cook another 10 minutes or so. Stir in the toasted sesame oil and taste. You might want to add remaining tablespoon of shoyu or soy sauce, particularly if your broth wasn't very salty. And you might want to add more toasted sesame oil a few drops at a time. Just keep tweaking until everything balances out for you. Serve sprinkled with lots of chopped chives.

 

Serves about six.


1-22_I_Can't_Let_Go.m4a Listen on Posterous

Evie Sands - I Can't Let Go

1-21_Try_The_Worryin'_Way.m4a Listen on Posterous

The Fabulettes - Try the Worryin' Way

("If you want to lose a pound a day, try the worryin' way!" This song advocates losing weight not by counting calories, but by worrying about whether your man be cheatin. While the message is endearingly laughable, the indifference to calories is totally appropriate. Eat on, sisters!)

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