27 January 2010

New recipe, new recipe. In an effort to use up some white mushrooms that were slowly going bad in my fridge, I made this very basic (and mild) mushroom soup:

Chop onions (2) and garlic (2 cloves). Saute in butter and/or olive oil (3 tablespoons) until onion is translucent and lightly browned. Add chopped white mushrooms (~1 pound) and saute until mushrooms release their juices. Stir in brown basmati rice (~1 cup) and rice wine vinegar (2 tablespoons). Add 4-5 cups of water, or enough to cover the mixture well. Salt generously. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and cook until the rice is tender. Remove from heat, and use a hand or regular blender to blend soup to desired texture, add pepper, and enjoy.

I am in love with using a hand blender to make soup.

And, to go with, a poem I read in high school.

Mushrooms

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

-Sylvia Plath

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