Well Seasoned Blog

Oven Roasted Mushroom Soup

Roasting the mushrooms before you add them to the soup, intensifies their earthiness adds another incredible layer of flavour. Once you have taken this extra step – there will be no going back.

8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms
3 cups fresh cremini mushrooms
4 cups fresh button mushrooms
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 cooking onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups homemade or best quality chicken stock
1 cup of cream
¼ cup minced fresh flat leaf parsley
¼ cup of dry sherry

Cut the cremini & button mushrooms into quarters or halves if they are small. Remove the stems from shiitakes and discard (they are too woody for this soup) cut them into quarters. Transfer the mushrooms to a small roasting pan and toss with 2 tbsp of the oil, ½ of the thyme and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Put your pan in a 400°F oven and roast for about 30 minutes, moving the mushrooms around occasionally until they are tender and golden brown.

Meanwhile, on top of the stove in large saucepan heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion, garlic & the rest of the thyme along with another sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent – you aren’t looking for any color here and be careful your heat isn’t too high, you don’t want your garlic to burn, it will make your soup bitter. Just before your onions are cooked stir on the sherry and let that reduce slightly. Finally, add the stock, the half of the contents of the roasted mushroom pan. With an immersion blender (or transfer to a regular blender) puree the stock with ½ of the mushrooms. Reduce the heat and continue simmer. To finish the soup, stir in the cream and the rest of the mushroom quarters – simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Garnish with fresh flat leaf parsley and serve with fresh crusty bread & soft butter.

Double Chocolate Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup

It must be Valentine’s Day – you are getting chocolate for breakfast. How sweet it is.

½ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. best quality unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
¼ cup semi sweet chocolate finely chopped
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. whole milk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large egg

Into small bowl, sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add chocolate chips and blend well with a wooden spoon.

On the stove top in small saucepan over low heat, combine the milk and butter stirring often just until butter is melted; milk should be warm but not hot. Remove from heat. With fork, beat the and gradually add to the milk and melted butter mixture. All at once, add liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Stir just until combined.

Heat your non stick frying pan over medium heat until a few drops of water scattered on it move around rapidly before evaporating. Drop the pancake batter onto heated griddle by rounded tablespoons, spreading the batter slightly as you do so. Leave enough room between the pancakes for them expand during cooking. Watch pancakes carefully. As they cook, they will puff up and become full of bubbles. When the done the edges will appear set and small bubbles will appear on the surface. Gently flip the pancakes over; cook until lightly browned on second side, about 45 seconds to 1minute. Keep pancakes that are done on heatproof plate in preheated 200 degree oven until they have all been cooked.

Serve the chocolate pancakes hot, with butter and your favourite fruit syrup or with warm chocolate sauce and whipping cream topped with fresh strawberries.

Simple Strawberry Syrup

4 cups of thawed frozen strawberries
1 cups sugar
¼ teaspoon lemon juice

Place your thawed strawberries in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour the strawberry puree through a fine wire mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Transfer your seedless puree to a sauce pan, add the sugar and the lemon juice stirring well to combine. Cook over low heat stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and boil over medium high to thicken, reduce the heat, simmer for 5 more minutes and transfer to a bowl to cool.

Serve the syrup at room temperature with your pancakes.