Mushroom Bok Choy Soup

I recently signed up for a CSA delivery and have since been re-energized back into soup blogging.  I receive monthly shipments of a surprise box of fruits and veggies.  This month's delivery included strawberries, oranges, potatoes, shallots, carrots, lettuce, and BOK CHOY.  I immediately went searching for bok choy recipes once I saw the 4 beautiful bunches.

I came across this recipe from Epicurious that just had to be delicious.  It also seemed fairly easy to make, as my Asian cooking skills are still developing.  The title of the recipe implies there is chicken in the soup, but actually only calls for chicken stock.  Adding chicken didn't seem exciting enough to stand with the other ingredients, so I decided to pair this soup with an entree of miso glazed salmon and additional side of bok choy based on a William Sonoma recipe.  Not to mention I could already picture the horror explaining to my boyfriend that the only protein in his dinner is in the stock! LOL!

The best part about making this meal was my trip to the Asian market, where I had to rely on social media to choose from the abundance of unfamiliar options.  After a Facebook conversation, I located a proper fish sauce.  It took a couple text messages to find the miso for the salmon marinade. (Thank you, Catherine Tran.  I dedicate this blog post to you!).  I was pleasantly surprised how affordable the various sauces and oils were. And I'm excited to keep using them up.

So many options for fish sauce!

My ingredients

I decided to deviate a bit from the recipe when I remembered I had a package of dried mushrooms I had been saving for a special occasion.  I figured why buy more of an expensive ingredient when I can use what I have AND use the delicious liquid to add flavor to my broth.  My first step was to reconstitute the mushrooms.  I used the directions on the package and rinsed them well in warm water and then let them sit in hot water for 15 minutes.  While the mushrooms were coming back to life, I made the marinade for the salmon. Once the mushrooms were ready, I drained them but saved the cooking liquid.

Porcini, shitake, black & oyster mushrooms

I didn't want to make the full batch since only 2 of us were there to enjoy so I used only 4 cups of chicken stock (recipe called for 8 cups) and then added about one cup of the mushroom liquid.  I brought the broth, ginger and mushrooms to a boil.  By this time, the salmon had marinated and I put it in the broiler along with more bok choy.

Miso salmon and bok choy 

To the broth, I then added fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and chili oil and let simmer for a few more minutes while the salmon cooked.  I roughly used half of the measurements the original recipe called for, but I may have added a few extra splashes here and there to taste.  I then added the bok choy and let that simmer for a few more minutes and lastly added the rice vinegar.  I covered the soup and turned off the stove until the salmon finished cooking.

Soup's on!

This dinner was so easy to make, and my kitchen smelled amazing.  I was a little nervous at this attempt given my lack of familiarity with the ingredients (miso is in the refrigerator section, huh?), but it ended up being a delicious meal.  The boyfriend even went back for seconds of soup and salmon.

Full dinner

Soup Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups bok choy / from home
4 cups chicken broth / from home
1 Tbsp ginger, peeled and minced / Asian market/ $2.29/lb / $0.41
1/2 cup mushrooms / from home
2 Tbsp fish sauce / Asian market / $3.99
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce / from home
1 Tbsp chili oil / Asian market / $1.99
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil / Asian market / $2.29
2 Tsp rice vinegar / Asian market / $1.89

Salmon ingredients:
4 salmon fillets / Asian market / $12.27
1/2 cup yellow Miso paste / Asian market / $4.95
1/4 cup sake / Asian market / $3.49
3 Tbsp soy sauce / from home
2 heads bok choy / from home

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: super duper easy
Cost: $10.57 (soup), $20.71 (salmon) = $7.82 per serving

Week 17: Risotto Soup

I've been curious about this soup since the first time I looked over the recipe. But I was a little afraid to make the risotto and it also called for a homemade broth, which takes time but is usually worth it. But since I made some extra broth last week, all that was left was learning how to make risotto...

For the broth, I used "short-cut chicken broth" that I had frozen from last week. I simmered 8 cups canned chicken broth with 1 1/2 cups onions, 2 celery stocks, 2-3 medium carrots, 2 sprigs of Italian parsley and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. After 20 minutes, strain and then it's ready to go, much tastier than the canned stuff.

The risotto was not so easy. Definitely a dish to make while drinking a glass (or 2) of wine! It's not hard so much as time consuming and requires a ton of attention and pretty much non-stop stirring. Simmer 3 1/2 cups broth in a separate pan. Saute shallots in butter until cooked and translucent. Add rice and cook until opaque (about 3-4 minutes). Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, stirring constantly until all liquid is dissolved. Continue to add broth 1/2 cup at a time, each time ensuring the broth has been absorbed. Stir often so that rice does not stick. The rice was still a little under cooked for me by the time the last of the broth was used up. I used a bit of water to cook the rice longer until the desired texture. Lastly, I added parmesan cheese.

The final step was to bring the rest of the both to a simmer and add the veggies. I used asparagus, mushrooms and green onions. These cooked quickly in the broth.

I served each bowl with a scoop of risotto in the middle and ladled in the broth and veggies. Sooo yummy. The broth was definitely worth the extra time. The risotto kept a nice texture in the broth and the asparagus and mushrooms were awesome too. The original recipe actually called for snap peas cut thinly for this soup, but the snap peas didn't look very good at the store and asparagus was on sale, so i opted for that. Glad I did. This was a hearty meal in itself, but a smaller portion made for a great first course. My girlfriends and I ate it with chicken in a mushroom sauce and the whole meal was delish! Can't wait to make this again, even with the stirring. And making the risotto wasn't too bad, but glad I gad that glass of wine and my girlfriends to keep me company through all the stirring.


Prep time: 10 minutes (not including broth)
Cook time: 40 minutes (not including broth)
Servings: 5-6
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: takes some attention
Cost: $7.49 for broth, $8.58


Ingredients

Chicken Broth:
8 cups chicken broth / $2.49 / Smart & Final
2 onions / from home
2 celery stalks / $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 medium carrots / 6 for $2.00 / Farmer's Market
2 Italian parsley sprigs $1.00 per bunch / Farmers' market
1/2 tsp Thyme / from home

Risotto Soup:
1/2 cup shallots / @2.99/lb = $1.76 / Whole Foods
1/2 pound asparagus / $3.99/lb = $0.84 / Whole Foods
1 bunch green onions / $0.99 / Whole Foods
4 oz crimini mushrooms /$4.99/lb = $2.30 Whole Foods
Grated parmesan cheese / from home
1 cup Aborio rice / 2.69 / Whole Foods


The girls eating Risotto Soup