Mushroom Risotto for Cook the Books April/May Selection: Taste: My Life In Food by Stanley Tucci

So, we will get the elephant in the room dealt with right away in this post. I am the host of this round of Cook the Books, our virtual foodie book club where we read a foodie book and cook something inspired from it. I didn't cook a dish, I ordered in. Honestly, I am still healing from a bout with COVID that has me hitting the wall every day about 3:00 PM, and still has my "taster" out of whack--I never know what will taste good to me, or taste at all. Since Stanley Tucci seems to have a healthy respect for restaurants and chefs, I am hoping he won't mind that I celebrate the treasure of him and his book with one of my favorite mushroom risottos. I'll get to that, and a couple of mushroom risotto recipes I did make, after my thoughts about the book.

Taste: My Life in Food by Stanley Tucci will go down as one of my favorite food memoirs and memoirs in general. For me, it's the combination of his passion for food, the glimpse at celebrity life, and how a person who seems like a generally nice guy, has overcome some serious health hardships in his life--his first wife's death from cancer and his own oral cancer in 2018. Tucci is the kind of person one imagines they would like to be friends with--not just to be invited over to dinner for the food, but for the interesting conversation as well. 

I loved his stories of growing up with a mother who could have been a chef, in a big Italian foodie family and how he became the foodie he is. I enjoyed hearing about his experience on movie sets as they related to food. (He did lose a few points from me for eating puffin in Iceland as all I could think about was one of my favorite bird characters, Neil the Puffin from Jenny Colgan's Little Beach Street Bakery series and that made me sad--despite the preponderance of them in that country. I have forgiven him.) The celebrity stories are fun and a bit endearing, making me love Colin Firth and Ryan Reynolds even more than I do for the roles they played when Tucci was going through cancer treatment. And finally, the food--there is so much glorious food and recipes peppered throughout the book that it is impossible not to crave food and Italian food while reading it. Speaking of reading, I went back and forth between my e-book and audiobook and I have to encourage you to listen to the audiobook, even if you have read the printed version. It's like listening to your most interesting and slightly eccentric friend tell stories, and leads one to want to binge favorite Stanley Tucci movies and his series, Searching For Italy. A delightful experience.

OK, so the food. I actually tagged several recipes that I planned to make namely the Spaghetti con Zucchine all Nerano, Spaghetti with Lentils, his mother's Risotto Milanese, Felicity's Roast Potatoes, Salsa Maria Rosa (or any of the other pasta sauces) and finally his Pasta Fagioli (My Way). 

In the end, I was set for the soup, yesterday, but then it just didn't sound good--mainly the beans and kale, and really, I just didn't want to cook. I wanted to be on my couch with a book and the fan blowing on me and so I ordered Mushroom Risotto from a local restaurant where it is made with Hamakua Mushrooms (hon shimeji or brown beech mushrooms), truffle and nori. Not traditional, but delicious. And, friends, I was so lazy that I didn't even replate it, I just ate it out of the container and enjoyed about half of it last night and the rest will be dinner tonight. 

Mushroom risotto is mentioned in the book as the "adult" meal on Tucci's menu in his quarantine "day-in-the-life" chapter and also risotto is mentioned a few other times throughout as something he could eat both with gluten intolerances and then later after his cancer treatment. I will make his mother's Risotto Milanese one of these days.  

Here are links to three Mushroom Risotto Recipes I did make:

A basic one:

Porcini Mushroom Risotto:

Mushroom & Leek "Stuffing" Risotto: 

The deadline for this round is today, and I will be rounding up the entries for Cook the Books on the website in a day or two. If you missed this round and you like books and food and foodie books, join us for our June/July pick, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain hosted by Claudia of Honey from Rock.

 

It's Almost Hungarian Mushroom Soup Time: Five Recipes for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

No new soup again this week. A new asthma maintenance inhaler I just started gave me a killer 2-day headache and cooking and soup making was not feeling like it would be a pleasure. But we do have a soup roundup, Hungarian Mushroom Soup recipes to be exact. It's a favorite and I saw someone post it on TickTock the other day and it sparked a craving. We are still about a month off of it being cool enough here for the true pleasure of this soup, but I can prepare by revisiting these five versions of it from my soup post archives.    

I have to start with my favorite Hungarian Mushroom Soup, a classic, from a favorite Portland, OR restaurant called Old Wive's Tales. It is the best and I was excited years ago to find a giant recipe on Food Network from the restaurant itself that I cut down. 

I made and posted it again last year: 

but I first posted it in 2008 (hence the bad picture).

The Old Wives Tale recipe was apparently inspired by this one from The Moosewood Cookbook. It's a little more mushroomy than the above, but still delicious.  

Creamy Hungarian Mushroom & Potato Soup made slightly healthier from Eating Well Magazine. 

Want your Hungarian Mushroom Soup vegan? We have a recipe for that, inspired from The Moosewood Cookbook and adapted from The Vegan Slowcooker by Kathy Hester. 

All of these are delicious. I may seek out or make up my own recipe for this fall but you can't go wrong with any of these. 

Now let's take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen: 

Radha of The Magical Ingredients for a Wholesome Life From the Heart of my Home is here with this Grain-Free Garbanzo Bean, Pasta and Paneer Soup saying, "This is an amazing curried soup with garbanzo beans pasta, paneer, and veggies. A light cream soup full of bursting flavors is all you need after a long day. This curry gives the satisfaction of a soup with flavors of channa masala and paneer masala. Though it can be served as such, pairs well with garlic bread. This is one-pot meal and gets ready in 30 minutes.

 

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shares a delicious Salad Plate from her recent visit to Omaha, saying, "This salad......I just can't tell you how much I wanted salad and some veggies after a few days of eating restaurant food. You can't see all the wonderful (to me) ingredients I have stacked here but it's lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, cheese, beets (lots of beets) which are hidden under the pasta salad on the left. Broccoli, radish and peas. So. Good."

Judee of Gluten Free A - Z Blog shared vegan and oil-free Tomato-Potato Soup, saying, "This delicious tomato potato soup will keep you coming back for more. It's light, yet filling, and a perfect hearty recipe for fall and winter. Not only does it call for a generous amount of chopped tomatoes, but it also contains potatoes, carrots, onions, and sweet peppers which add a rich satisfying flavor to the soup. Maybe I should have named it tomato vegetable soup?"

Thank you Radha, Tina, and Judee for joining me this week! 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.
• Although we are pretty wide on what defines a soup, sandwich or salad, entries that are clearly not in the same family (ie: desserts, meats, random main or side dishes that aren't salads, etc.) are meant for another round up and will be deleted. 

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!

 

The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "And Then She Vanished" by Nick Jones, Served with 3 Favorite Curry Recipes

I am excited to be today's stop on the TLC Book Tour for And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones, a new novel and the start of a new series. Accompanying my review are links to a trio of some favorite curry recipes, inspired by the book.

Publisher's Blurb:

He only looked away for a second.

Still haunted by the disappearance of his little sister Amy over twenty years ago, Joseph Bridgeman’s life has fallen apart. When a friend talks him into seeing hypnotherapist Alexia Finch to help with his insomnia, Joseph accidentally discovers he can time travel. His first trip only takes him back a few minutes, but his new-found ability gives him something he hasn’t felt for the longest time: hope.

Joseph sets out to travel back to the night Amy went missing and save her. But after several failed attempts, he discovers the farther back he travels, the less time he gets to stay there. And the clock is ticking.

With the help of Alexia, Joseph embarks on a desperate race against the past to save his sister. Can he master his new skill and solve the mystery of Amy’s disappearance before it’s too late?

Hardcover: 350 Pages 

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing (February 2, 2021)

My Review:

I wasn't sure what to expect from And Then She Vanished as I like time-travel stories but they need to feel "real" to me. I found myself immediately caught up in Joe's situation, he's just going through the motions, barely, of life. His mother has dementia, his father is gone, his business is failing and they are about to repossess his house, and all of it seemed to spiral downward when his younger sister disappeared two decades ago, never to be found. Since teenage Joe had taken Amy to a local fair and took his eyes off her for a few minutes while trying to win her a prize at a shooting booth, he blames himself for losing her and it has negatively impacted his entire family. Joe's friend gives him the name of a hypnotherapist who he goes to see to help with his insomnia and after a visit, he discovers that he can time travel and immediately decides to try to save Amy from whatever happened to her. 

 

I don't want to share too much detail as the book has some good twists that the reader should just let play out. The time travel aspects are done well, there are lots of details about the process and how it feels, and Joe confides in an old friend, a mathematician who helps him discover some of the "rules" of time travel (there are always rules you know). I felt for Joe, his guilt and pain and liked the supporting cast of characters that surrounded him--especially Vinny, his friend and vinyl dealer (Joe is big a music and Beatles fan). The book sped by and I hated to put it down because I wanted to find out what happened to Amy. I also liked that the book had an ending that mostly wrapped the story but left us with a teaser to future time travel adventures for Joe. I will definitely sign up for the next book.

-----

Author Notes: Nick Jones was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, and now lives in the Cotswolds, England. In a previous life, he ran his own media company and was a 2nd Dan black belt in Karate. These days he can be found in his writing room, working on his latest mind-bending ideas, surrounded by notes and scribbling on a large white board. He loves movies, kindness, gin, and vinyl.

You can connect with Nick on his website. 

-----

Food Inspiration:

There's a fair amount of food and drink mentioned in the book, some more inspiring than others, including chestnuts and sweet candy, a juicer and smoothies and juices made from apples, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, and raspberries, red wine, bacon sandwich, vanilla and warm bread, chamomile tea, popcorn, brandy, ice cream, marmalade on toast, a full English breakfast on a baguette, steak, coffee, chocolate cookies, whiskey, spaghetti carbonara, meat and gravy, peanuts and other nibbles, mince pies, prosecco, hot dogs, grapes, Kit Kats, jelly beans, marshmallows, beer, turkey, G&T, a pot of soup, and peppermint tea. 

I took my inspiration from the "Curry Club" that Joseph has with his friend Vinny, where they cook a different curry each month. Actually Vinny cooks and Joseph buys the ingredients which seems a good deal to me. They get pretty imaginative from vegan chocolate curry to fermented fish phall (phall is a spicy British curry). The curry they eat in the book is Madagascan Chicken and Vanilla Curry and they both like the sweet and spicy combo. 

I love curries and make a lot of curry soups as well as regular curries. I would have liked to have made a special one for the book but work has been crazy this past month and I ran out of time. Instead, I picked three past recipes for you to try--you can see the links below. Although not as creative as Vinny's curries, they are all delicious.

Creamy Hard-Boiled Eggs Masala: Eggs in curry is my favorite! I have this one and another version on the site.

Bengali Fish Curry: A mustard-y curry with lightly fried fish.

Mushroom and Spinach Korma: Creamy, mild, satisfying and full of mushrooms.

Note: A review copy of "And Then She Vanished" was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for my review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own. 
 
You can see the other stops for this TLC Book Tour and what other bloggers thought of the book here.

 

Jamie Oliver's Hot & Sour Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Since Friday was Chinese New Years and I was craving Hot & Sour Soup, I adapted a Jamie Oliver recipe this week.I think you can't go wrong with tangy and spicy.

Hot & Sour Soup

Slightly Adapted from JamieOliver.com

(Serves 4 to 6)

2 cloves of garlic
1-2 fresh red chillies
sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
250 g (about 9 oz) shitake mushrooms, cleaned
225 g (about 8 oz) bamboo shoots , drained
groundnut oil , or vegetable oil
low-salt soy sauce
rice wine vinegar
1 tsp runny honey
1.5 litres (about 6 cups) hot organic vegetable stock
150 g (about 5 oz) firm tofu (I used whole 1lbpackage)
2 spring onions
1/2 bunch of chives
1 large free-range egg 

(I added 1 tsp toasted sesame oil)

 

Peel the garlic and deseed the chillies, then roughly chop and place into a pestle and mortar. 

Bash with a pinch of salt to a rough paste. Peel, finely chop and add the ginger, then bash until broken down and combined.
 

Finely slice the mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Heat a lug of oil in a large wok or heavy-based saucepan over a medium-high heat, add the mushrooms and fry for 4 minutes, or until lightly golden. Stir in the chilli paste and bamboo shoots and fry for a further minute.
 

Meanwhile, mix together 3 tablespoons of soy, 4 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, the honey and a good pinch of white pepper. Stir the mixture into the pan and cook for a minute, then pour in the hot stock and bring gently to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Meanwhile, chop the tofu into 1cm cubes, finely slice the spring onions and chives and whisk the egg well.
 

Once reduced, remove the soup from the heat. Using a chopstick, stir the soup in a clockwise direction until you get a little whirlpool, then slowly add the beaten egg, stirring continuously to form thin ribbons. Stir in the tofu and return to the heat for 1 minute to warm through. Season to taste with soy and vinegar, then serve immediately with the spring onions and chives scattered on top.

 

 

Notes/Results: For some reason, my egg never made it into ribbons so maybe I left the soup of too long, otherwise this was great--rich, tangy, slightly spicy and lots of flavor. I stirred in a little toasted sesame oil at the end, which I really like. A nice way to make your dinner instead of relying on take out, I would happily make it again. 

 

Linking up at I Heart Cooking Clubs where we are celebrating Chinese New Year!

 

Now let's check out the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here!

It's nice to have my friend Tina of Squirrel Head Manor back at Souper Sundays this week. Tina made Veggie Soup and said, "Not too much new in the kitchen this month but as we cleared out our fridge and freezer, useing leftovers and partial frozen bags of veggies so there is minimal waste. Roasted corn from Trader Joe's store. ... We tried it as a side dish and I have to say, it wasn't remarkable.  Perhaps I added a bit too much water in the cooking method. ... I gave the corn another try adding it in a pot of soup. It was a good addition there. Leftover roasted potatoes and carrots, sliced onions rounded this out. Thickened with a bit of flour and broth and you have a hearty lunch for a cool day."

Simona of briciole is here with Vegetable and Quinoa Salad, saying "Since I am the only one in the family eating quinoa and I don't eat a lot of it, I cooked 1/4 cup / 50 grams at a time for each of my experiments. Every time, I found that I needed more liquid than the 1:2 ratio usually found in recipes. Finally, using part water and part broth made for a tastier result. As for the vegetables, use what's in season, like tasty salad turnips (a favorite, also featured in a recipe last year⁴). If you buy a bunch, save the tasty greens and cook them. I liked the addition of steamed broccoli in one version. I liked using the last persimmon in another. And in terms of dressing, choose what goes well with the vegetables: nut butter and broccoli, mayonnaise (maionese) and baby salad greens (from my garden). The overall idea is that you can cook some quinoa and have it handy to compose a salad."

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen shared Sriracha Butternut Couscous Salad and said, "I had some left over butternut squash that I roasted and tossed into some couscous making this rather simple Salad. It was perked up a little Sriracha and baby spinach from the garden for colour. Okay, I am off to have a lazy weekend, which may mean sitting on the sofa under my blanket watching TV and reading. But one thing for certain, I am turning off the computer screen. Have a good weekend."

Finally here at Kahakai Kitchen, I made a (Mostly) Classic Tuna Salad Sandwich for a book review.  It reminded me of how good a simple tuna sandwich on soft white bread with potato chips can be.

Thank you to Tina, Simona, and Shaheen for joining me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Kung Hei Fat Choi and have a happy healthy week!

 

Mini Wonton Vegetable Soup: Quick & Comforting for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I probably eat veggie gyoza/wontons once a week for dinner because I love them so much and they always hit the spot. This week, I wanted them in soup. At first I was going to make Mark Bittman's Broken Wonton Soup but then I wanted even easier and decided to make his Easy 3-Ingredient Wonton Soup from The Today Show (c. 2008) instead.

You can look at the photo and tell there are way more than three ingredients but Bittman gives a list of optional add-ins and I added to that. Still it's quick, easy to make and delicious!

3-Ingrent (+ More) Wonton Soup

Adapted from Mark Bittman

(Makes 4-6 Servings)

4 cups any stock (I used faux chicken broth)

12 to 24 wontons or gyoza (I used 1 package mini spicy veggie wontons)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro or scallion

 

Optional add-ins:

1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more to taste

1 cup sliced carrot

2 cups sliced tender spinach, cabbage, or bok choy

1 cup sliced fresh or dried (and reconstituted) shiitake mushroom caps

 

I added:

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

4 baby bok choy, thicker stems sliced and separated from leaves 

sesame seeds for garnish

wonton strips for garnish

Bring the 4 cups of stock to boil. Cook wontons or gyoza in stock, and add optional ingredients as desired (examples: soy sauce to taste, sliced carrot, sliced tender spinach, cabbage, or bok choy; or sliced fresh or dried and reconstituted shiitake mushroom caps). (Note: I cooked the thicker stems of the bok choy first, then added carrot to the broth, first and let simmer for 10 minutes, then added wontons and rest of veggies and cooked another 5-7 minutes before adding sesame oil and soy sauce.)   

Notes/Results: A tasty soup that is quick to make and fun to eat with the mini wontons. The wontons I used are spicy so they add additional heat and flavor to the soup but if you use a good broth a spike it with ginger, garlic, sesame oil and soy sauce, you gets lots of flavor. You can use any kind of wonton or gyoza in this based on what you like and can find. The regular size wontons are great but I do like the one-bite pleasure of the minis. You can also change up the veggies to what you like and have on hand--spinach would be great as would corn and peas. I added 2 kinds of mushrooms because I like the different textures. I will happily make this again. 

I'm linking this post up to I Heart Cooking Clubs where this weeks theme is Welcome 2021!

Let's take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen and see who is here:

Crafty Gardener is here with her Leftover Turkey Soup saying, "What do you do with leftover turkey after the holidays are over? Maybe you have more leftovers this year after not having big family/friends gatherings. First is turkey soup. ... Individual portions of the soup are put into freezer bags and stored in the upright freezer for enjoying later.  There is nothing like a bowl of homemade soup on a chilly day."

Shaheen from Allotment2Kitchen brought Orzo Salad with Pesto Sauce and says, "This Orzo Salad was made with pesto sauce left over from the Puff Pastry Tree nibbles. It was bulked up with other ingredients that came from open jars, like black olives and sundried tomatoes. The only fresh ingredient was spring onions. It was easy to make and even easier to eat."

 

Thank you for joining me this week, Crafty Gardener and Shaheen!

 
(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!