Mushroom Soup to soothe the soul

...and cure Christmas cough and congestion.

John's still not feeling well. His cold seems to have settled in his chest and shows no signs of evacuating any time soon. And he's damn tired of Robitussin and orange juice.

So with the leftover mushrooms from Christmas dinner and a quick romp through the internets, I whipped up a soothing mushroom soup. With inspiration from Crabby, Giada, Julia and Ina I knew it would be a winner, and it was. I used half and half rather than whipping cream because that's what I had available, and it was still creamy enough to feel indulgent without completely clogging the arteries. And John declared the warm earthy mushroom flavors exactly what the doctor ordered.

Bookmark this on Delicious

Remembering Mo...

My father would have been 81 years old today.

And while I didn't learn nearly as much about cooking and baking as I could have or should have from him, he remains one of my primary inspirations in the kitchen.

Those of you who've been here a while know that John and I host a gala open house the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year. What started as our housewarming party in 2000 has evolved into an annual tradition we're proud to say is a must-attend event on many of our friends' calendars. What most people don't realize is that the whole open house concept wasn't mine but my father's.

Mo hosted his annual open house on December 26 -- though only a handful of his guests knew the significance behind the date. Like we do, he invited friends from all aspects of his life, and did nothing to coordinate introductions. And like our open house, it worked. People mingled, discovered surprise connections with other guests, and often in the process we learned new things about our friends. The only place we stray from Mo's model is that our menu is built on appetizers and finger food -- because growing up that's what *I* wanted to contribute to his menu and he insisted appetizers were a waste of everyone's appetite for the "real food."

So the BIG open house in my childhood home happened at Christmas time. But my father opened his home and his kitchen to his friends on a smaller scale on a weekly basis. Over the years Maude and Dick, Lou and Maria, Carol and Ken, Neal, John and Ruth, Henri, Lorraine, Donna, Julie, Bob and Joanne had standing invitations to dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. And most of them occupied a regular spot at the dining room table.

While John's and my weekend social life tends to be more outwardly focused (with three weekends in four often dedicated to dance events), we're looking at 2009 as an opportunity to entertain on a smaller scale.

And what better date to launch a new tradition than Mo's birthday???

So we put together a simple but satisfying menu and celebrated a belated Christmas with some of our dance friends. We built the menu around a main course I found over at Closet Cooking: Maple and Chipotle Roasted Turkey Breast. Our protein was pork tenderloin because I couldn't find a whole turkey breast at any of my regular marts of trade. On the side we served Warm Leek Salad with bounty from the CSA box, a simple spinach salad sprinkled with dried cranberries and walnuts, and Cooking Light's Colonial Corn Pudding. For dessert we offered a tray of Dorie Christmas Cookies.

We ate. We drank. We enjoyed each other's company.

I like to think Mo would have been proud.

Bookmark this on Delicious

Bites from other blogs

It's time for another confession.

You see I've got a bit of an addiction.

Some of you might be able to relate.

My name is Dolores, and I'm addicted to collecting and categorizing recipes.

My bookcase overfloweth with cookbooks. I can't add another one without a donation or two or ten to freecycle. But Amazon keeps calling my name...

And then there's the Internets.

I was much better off when it was 'manual'. I surfed the 'net for recipes visiting my favorite blogs one-by-one. I managed my "to try" list as a word document. Adding 2-3 recipes per week, I maintained the delightful delusion of self control.

Then came the aggregate feed reader, making it possible to visit 20 40 hundreds thousands of blog posts in a week. And with delicious I could click through and bookmark my favorites -- categorizing on the go to appeal to my inner list geek. And TasteSpotting and FoodGawker upped the obsession ante by providing a daily dose irresistible food porn.

So I've spent the last couple of weeks justifying my obsession by building my menus around some of the recipes I've gathered.

For brunch on turkey day we indulged in what one creative commenter dubbed Piggy Cups with Eggs from Dragon's Kitchen. Grab a couple of ramekins and line them with prosciutto. Add some eggs and some herbage and bake. Yum!

Four blackening bananas required immediate attention, but plain old banana bread didn't appeal. Enter Melanie of My Kitchen Cafe and her phenomenal frosted banana bars. I took a bit of liberty with the frosted part - using the last of Shuna's caramel buttercream goodness in place of the cream cheese - which paired perfectly with the base bars.

I've long categorized Dim Sum with sushi -- yummy but reserved for restaurants as it's way outside of my comfort level in the kitchen. DP at Blazing Hot Wok shattered that paradigm with her Cocktail Shrimp Balls. We doubled the recipe intending to serve them at November's Open House. Then when I allowed a couple of sous chef guests to take the lead mid-party, we forgot about them in the back of the refrigerator. Friends, reheated cocktail shrimp balls drizzled in a bit of sweet chili sauce are a most excellent substitute for popcorn as a late night movie snack.

As we're trying to expand our everyday past the ubiquitous boneless, skinless chicken breast, I've been paying special attention to recipes for the other white meat, and Brooke's Pork Tenderloin Parmesan emerged at the top of the to-try list when it employed a lot of "need to use" ingredients and with Martha's influence, plated pretty enough for company.

Another new favorite that *did* make the open house buffet: Melissa's take on Ina's Classic Pan Fried Onion Dip. Ditch that envelope of soup mix folks -- this one's WELL worth the extra work.

And last but certainly not least, Micha's sensational *and* seasonally appropriate Pomegranate Ginger Pork Tenderloin Medallions will make the regular rotation during pomegranate season for years to come. We've made it three times in three weeks for three different audiences -- all with rave reviews.

Six recipes down. Three thousand eight hundred forty two to go...

Bookmark this on Delicious

From the archives...
In 2006 I pondered the butterfly effect -- change one thing, change everything.
In 2007 I went for the gold.