Experiments with soup
The office had a Thanksgiving potluck, so I was motivated to attempt to cook something. My sister gave me a Moosewood cookbook which I've been slowly experimenting with, and it had a recipe that involved pumpkin, the "Pumpkin and Porcini Soup" , so I figured I'd give it a whirl.
On the first point, finding porcini mushrooms required a trip to the "fru fru" (is that even slang?) grocery store, since they're rather a specialty item. They're apparently always dried, which is important since the boiling water used to reconstitute them becomes quite flavored.
The second point is that a pumpkin-based soup with mushrooms is a rather unusual taste. It's not bad, but it's not... what I expect to taste from soup? I don't really have a benchmark of whether to like it or not. It wasn't a big hit at the potluck, but there were logistics problems with things like bowls and spoons.
An interesting experiment, but not one I think I'll repeat unless someone has a hankering for it. Porcini have a very unusual (and very strong) flavor.
The black bean soup was much simpler and came out better, even if I used a bulb of garlic rather than a clove (insert facepalm here). Oh well, I've never claimed to be an expert cook.
On the first point, finding porcini mushrooms required a trip to the "fru fru" (is that even slang?) grocery store, since they're rather a specialty item. They're apparently always dried, which is important since the boiling water used to reconstitute them becomes quite flavored.
The second point is that a pumpkin-based soup with mushrooms is a rather unusual taste. It's not bad, but it's not... what I expect to taste from soup? I don't really have a benchmark of whether to like it or not. It wasn't a big hit at the potluck, but there were logistics problems with things like bowls and spoons.
An interesting experiment, but not one I think I'll repeat unless someone has a hankering for it. Porcini have a very unusual (and very strong) flavor.
The black bean soup was much simpler and came out better, even if I used a bulb of garlic rather than a clove (insert facepalm here). Oh well, I've never claimed to be an expert cook.