one pot lunch

Took 15 mins, if you don't count the home made pesto, which was done yday.

Boil (11 min) pasta in salted water. 7 mins remaining, add the egg in shell. 5 mins remaining, add the frozen broad beans. Take out egg, cool, and peel. Take out the rest, and toss with pesto.

Potato Rosti

Not too bad. The outside was crisp and non oily. Inside was potato'y and tender. Critical advice was followed from this recipe:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/13/how-to-cook-perfect-rosti

Basically, I boiled the potatoes in their skin the night before and placed in the fridge. Only the next morning, did I shred them.

One note: actually I think one large potato is enough for a moderate 2 person breakfast (with fruits etc). 

Spanish Tortilla

This was a hit too tonight.

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spanish-tortilla

I took a hint from the above link to first slowly cook the potatoes and onions/bell pepper in lots of oil (basically braise it in oil). Then cool it and mix it into the egg mixture.

(I reused the oil for the porchetta)

I then cooked it for the first part of the combined eggs/potatoes/onions in the pan, then finished it off in the oven under the broiler. As this was my first time, I monitored the temp - when it hit 55C, I transferred it to the pre heated broiler and took it out when it was browned and the internal temp is 69C. Residual cooking did the rest.

69C is probably too high - the temp would continue to rise for a while. I might take it out at a lower temp - say 65C - just to get some runny parts in the dish.

Porchetta

I followed fairly closely to the recipe in the following link: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/12/the-food-lab-deep-fried-sous-vide-36-hour-all-belly-porchetta.html

It was delicious.

Couple of problems.
1. The skin of the pork belly, while crispy, seemed a little thin? Perhaps its the cut.
2. The use of all that oil in the deep fry seems a waste and messy.

I'll repeat this again, but without the deep fry. I'll use the oven at 300C and see what happens.

The sum of parts is worth more than the whole

$9 chicken rendered into the component parts. Cheaper than buying the separate parts.

I think I'm getting neater and faster also. Just need maybe 10 more chickens to practice on!

Fried potatoes

There's an alternative way to have your potatoes. Fry them.

Slice the potatoes into approximately 3cm slices. Make sure they have flat tops on both sides. Then par cook the potato slices in heavily salted water until a fork inserted goes fairly easily in (but not too tender or they'll fall apart). Drain the potatoes and shake them a bit to get a bit furry. Then fry the potato slices in a pan under high to medium high heat till brown.

More flatbread

This time, did it on a non stick, round, oven safe skillet. More convenient and more pleasing shape.

I said this is similar to French bread dough but I'm wrong. There's a little bit of sugar in it, and this seems to make a lot of difference to the internal softness of the bread.

Turkish bread

The dough is similar to baguette dough.

I proofed it 7 hours overnight in wine cooler. Seems to work, so can have fresh baked bread in the morning in future.

Actually can try a slightly longer proofing.

Hard boiled eggs with liquid center

This method appears to work. Might even want to try a 6.5 minute boil for even more tender result.

1. Bring a pot of water to a furious boil.
2. Insert egg or eggs (but not too many to cool the boil down) into water. I used 60g eggs.
3. Keep water at a rolling boil for 7 minutes.
4. At a about the 4 minute mark, tap each egg in the pot just enough to crack the shell very slightly (or take the egg out and drop it on the countertop and put it back)
5. At the 7 minute mark, take eggs out and plunge into ice cold water for about a minute.
6. Peel.

Point 4 is about making the egg easier to peel smoothly. The original advice was to tap the egg before  putting it into the water, but I found that it caused leak of egg albumin and if you tapped too much, the heat gets inside the egg and cooks the yolk. Much better to wait until some solid egg white has formed, then to tap the egg - this causes hot water to seep into the crack and cause the shell to separate a little.

First attempt at hot smoked salmon

Can be improved. Logging attempt here.

1. Dry brine salmon overnight. Then wash and dry and leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
2. Light some hickory chips in a metal container. Then place in a wok.
3. Put the salmon on a up turned metal plate (next time use a grate) and place it in wok above chips.
4. Cover wok. Seal edges with wet towels.
5. Turn heat on high till air temp inside wok is about 70-80C
6. Smoke till inside of fish is 57C. Take out and immediately refrigerate.

Result. Salmon is lightly smoked and flesh is just right. Think the cooking method is about right, but I used too little smoke. Tastes nice however. It is possible more smoking is not indicated. Will try again next time.

I used the flaked flesh in a salad with Creme Faiche for the dressing. Not liking it too much - I think I prefer vinegrette. I shall try that next time.

In summary, next time, more smoke, vinegrette as dressing. I may also add sliced beets for the fresh taste and texture.

After note: this much salmon is about good for light lunch for 2. Or starter portion for 6-8.

Ricotta gnudi

No pics - forgot to take. I did ricotta gnudi as per this link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pillowy-ricotta-gnocchi-gnudi-with-sage-brown-butter-sauce

But I did not do the sauce. Mine was simpler. After cooking in water, toss in extra virgin olive oil. Then put in the button of each bowl, sprinkle grated Parmesan over, followed by a poached egg. Then sprinkle salt and pepper. I think fairly nice and can repeat.

Portion wise, 330g ricotta, 3 egg yolks and 165g AP flour makes enough for 9 starter portions. I probably want to add more salt next time.

The 330g ricotta was made from about 2 litres of milk, 600ml butter milk, some cream.

Almost round the world dinner

From top left, a short of Spanish tapas inspired dish (beans and chorizo) - quite nice. A basic soft white loaf originally from chefsteps USA. A typical Italian dish with interlaced mozzarelle, tomato slices and basil who's name escapes me at the moment. Last, stir fried broccoli with garlic and abalone sauce.

The bean and chorizo dish is worth repeating. Quite nice.
1. Cut into pieces and brown the chorizo sausage (this one was spicier than usual).
2. Take out sausage.
3. Saute half an onion + a pinch of dried fennel seeds.
4. Add garlic and add back sausages and a bit of butter. Fry a bit more.
5. Add heinz baked beans (I used 3/4 of the can for 2 sausages).
6. Add a bit of water or white wine. Add thyme. Bring to boil. Then simmer for a while until slightly reduced.
7. Add a bit of cream, stir it in thoroughly and simmer a bit more.

Phoon Huat discovery and beetroot rice

Just discovered that Phoon Huat has a branch in Clementi that sells delicatessen stuff and so cheap! I bought 2 bone in pork chops ($22+ a kilo), and 2 Australian sirloin steaks (also in the 20+ range). Also got myself a jar of duck fat ($8.9), and a small container of burrata cheese (forgot the price but I remember very reasonable). The pork chops and the burrata was used in this meal.

I also experimented with a new dish. Rice cooked in beetroot juice and a little butter. Unfortunately, instead of juicing, I tried a short cut of blending the beetroot, but that leaves a bunch of vegetable crud on the rice which is unsightly. Also because dinner was delayed, I stuck the rice in a warm turned off oven to keep - it dried out the rice. But when I tried the rice fresh from the steamer it was pretty good. I'll repeat this again using pure beet juice done with the slow juicer.

Weekend dinner and a few notes

Not sure why my last attempt at seafood soup was mediocre, but I got it back. Seems like fennel, leek and some good quality tomato paste (or thick sauce - I used my home made) is the holy trinity here. Plus a touch of fish sauce (not enough to intrude). I also fried the prawn shells in high heat with fennel until I could smell the prawniness before I added the vegetables to sauté.

The French beans were stir fried in a very hot pan with beef tallow (rendered beef fat). Beef tallow was from the fat I cut off from the short ribs when I made beef soup last night. To get the tallow, I chopped the fat into fine strips, mixed it with a bit of baking soda, then steam pressure cooked it in a closed container for 1.5 hrs. 

The pasta was simply made using 2 strips of finely chopped bacon. Then mixed with my home made tomato sauce plus a bit of whipping cream. I have realized that whipping cream in a siphon can is much more convenient. The cream expires in 2 months and I can simply use as little as I like, cleaning the nozzle after use. There isn't that much difference between whipping cream and heavy cream. Only if I wanted to use Creme fraiche then I'd get the "real thing".

Initial attempt at chicken ballotine

Not bad for a first try, I think. Was pretty good even - succulent and very tasty with a good almost papery skin. Can be improved. I had to improvise a little coz I originally wanted to do it over 3 days, but ended up just cooking it right there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfY0lrdXar8

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-chicken

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

I combined 3 references above. First Jacques Pepin showed the way in deboning the chicken, so that you can stuff the resultant meat (when you roast this, it's called a ballotine). Then I honoured chefsteps in their crispy roast chicken technique where you slooowly bring the chicken meat to serving temp (to get good texture and juicyness), then blasting it with a super hot oven at the last step to get the crispy brown skin. Then, because I ran short of time, I did the initial low temp roast of the chicken at a higher temp, and consulted serious eats for the optimal time to hold at temp.

First the deboning. Turns out to be not too hairy, though the chicken skin turned out a but more fragile than I expected. I had to do a little creative covering when I packaged it later. I then brined the chicken by injection with 5% salt solution.

The stuffing is worth documenting. The lap cheong was outstanding in the stuffing.
1. slowly saute 1/2 a lap cheong to render the fat out.
2. Then saute chopped onions till translucent.
3. Then add rice and coat in oil. Add sliced garlic and mushrooms.
4. Add in chicken stock and cook the rice. I used slightly more water to make the rice moist for the stuffing.

I trussed the chicken with the stuffing and tied the string. Dried the top as much as possible with paper towels. Thankfully, not much incident with spilled stuffing. The chicken was unevenly thick with some spots just having bare skin and other spots having thick meat - I solved it by thinly slicing some of the thick meat and placing the sliced meat in the thin spots.

Because I ran out of time, instead of cooking at 74C for a few hours, I raised the low temp roasting to 95C. I then monitored the meat temp to 63C and held it there for 10 minutes (as per serious eats for pastuerization) by turning off the oven, opening the door to let some heat out, closing it again (a "human" temperature regulator). The internal temp went to 66C max during this time.

Took the chicken out. Raised the temp to 300C. Brushed a little oil on the chicken. Then put it back into the very hot oven. After a few minutes, the chicken skin is bubbling and starting to brown. I turned on the forced fan in the oven and lowered to 275C. I stood there and monitored still the skin looked right (actually turns out it could have browned a bit more). Rest the chicken before eating.

Ang Mo Hae Mee

The star attraction was the prawn stock.

I bought pretty fresh large prawns, peeled the shells and used it to make prawn stock as follows
1. heat oil in a pot and then fry fennel seeds for a few minutes at medium heat
2. Add the prawn shells, turn the heat up and fry until fragrant.
3. Add vegetables (diced one small onion, 2 stalks celery and a little leek) and saute until translucent.
4. Add garlic and saute a bit more.
5. Add water to just barely cover ingredients. Add some thyme and dried kelp and then bring to a boil.
6. Lower the heat to a bare simmer and simmer for 40 mins.
7. filter out the resultant stock.

To cook pasta,
1. Cook the prawns in the prawn stock till just barely cooked.
2. saute garlic in pan with olive oil.
2. add cooked pasta and stir around for a while.
3. Add the prawn stock with the prawns and simmer for a minute.
4. serve with fish roe, sliced sun dried tomatoes and seeweed.

Braised Beef short ribs

Braised the short ribs SV style (as an experiment) for 48hrs at 62C. Not bad... Not bad at all - only thing is : is it worth it to do it for 2 even though it's little effort other than waiting. The braise fluid was my new fangled tomato sauce.... And nothing else.

Served simply with.

1. Puréed steamed pumpkin with a spoonful of Philadelphia cream cheese, dash of maple syrup, some Greek yoghurt and a healthy dollop of black pepper.

2. Grated Parmesan on mini portobello mushrooms and grilled.

3. Steamed mini corn with Japanese sesame dressing and steamed snow peas.

The puréed pumpkin was pretty nice aside from the main attraction.

An improvised Friday night dinner

The squash and the chicken can be repeated. Hence recording for future purpose. The basic braising method for the chicken can probably be reused for other meats.

Squash cooked salad.
1. Cut butternut squash into 3-4cm chunks. Then roast in 150C oven with olive oil and salt till tender.
2. cook quinoa in salted chicken stock (used 1/3 cup for about 300g of butternut).
3. toast pumpkin seeds in dry non stick pan till brown and fragrant.
4. Mix.

Braised chicken. Used a dutch oven.
1. 2 thighs and 2 half chicken breasts. I dry brined the chicken a bit for 1 hour. No other salt added later.
2. Moderately cook some chopped bacon until fat renders out and bacon browns. Set bacon aside.
3. Brown chicken. Put aside also.
4. saute some oregano until fragrant.
5. pour in 1 can of tomato (whole tomato, crushed by hand).
6. cook for a few minutes at boiling.
7. Add in 2-3 table spoons of heavy cream.
8. cook for a few minutes more, mixing in the cream. Add a healthy dollop of pepper. Out in several sprigs of thyme.
9. put back the bacon. Then lay the chicken on top. Make sure sauce just covers the chicken. Add a little water if necessary. Add a few pats of butter on top.
10. boil the lot.
11. put the pot into a 150C oven. Cook for 20 minutes covered, then take out the cover and cook for a further 40-50 minutes uncovered.
12. Take out chicken. Boil the remaining sauce if necessary to thicken.
13. To serve, put chicken on plates and spoon over sauce.

Savory Onion custard

Not sure what to call this really. It's sort of a cross between a Frittata and a crustless Quiche. Kind of made it up using a bit of kitchen science.

It tastes quite nice, is inexpensive, and is very moist inside, but browned outside.

1. For this size dish, I used 6 eggs + 3 tablespoons greek yoghurt. Mix it together with a bit of milk, salt and pepper.

2. Slice one medium onion. On fry pan, saute the onions slowly in a butter/oil mix till they are soft, but not browned.

3. Butter the round pan.

4. When onions are done, pour into the pan and spread everything out evenly. Then pour the egg mixture over it.

5. Place into an oven with steam injection at 70-80C (alternative : use water bath) and slowly bring the egg mixture temperature up to about 65C. This is so that the entire mixture is just short of curdling.

6. Remove pan, and spread a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese on the top.

7. Re-insert pan into a 190C oven with broiler turned on and bake till the top is brown and egg mix is no longer bubbling up.

8. Take out and cool before cutting.

Cha Siu with Lee Kum Kee

Tried a char Siu done with Lee Kum Kee char Siu sauce.

Result is decent. Though I would have cut the meat differently - against the grain instead of with the grain. That made slicing the meat a bit iffy when cutting through the char. 

1. Cut pork shoulder into manageable pieces. 

2. Dry brine the pork for several hours using salt, Apple cider vinegar and a little maple syrup.

3. Wash the brine off. Then insert into baggies and coat with Lee Kum Kee sauce.

4. Cook at 61.5C for 18 hours. 

5. Take out meat, clean it of sauce and pat dry. Reserve sauce in bag. Reduce the sauce on stove top to a thick consistency.

6. Char the meat in a very hot oven with a broiler turned on (260C). 

7. Take out, and apply the sauce as a glaze and put back into oven (reduce heat to 160C) until the glaze becomes a sticky coat on the meat.

Note: The char siu goes well with mw's home made bean sprouts (below the char siu in the pic). 

Crab meat pasta and a good home made tomato sauce

Made a tomato sauce, following almost faithfully the recipe in this link : http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/09/the-best-slow-cooked-italian-american-tomato-sauce-red-sauce-recipe.html

I made about 6 two person portions using 4x800g of canned tomatoes (the tomatoes really reduce down in the long cook).

The pictured pasta was made using the basic sauce and it was pretty good. Went well with a Bordeaux. 

1. Fry some sliced bacon in a non stick pan with no added oil to render the bacon fat at medium heat.

2. Take out the bacon and then put in a healthy dollop of crab meat at high heat. 

3. Stir briefly then add in the tomato sauce. 

4. Stir to mix, then add a dollop of heavy cream. Add back the bacon.

5. Add pepper to taste.
6. Toss with pasta.

"Air fried" French fries

This is my first attempt at producing this. Can use as part of my armament for feeding the nephews and nieces with something familiar yet reasonably not unhealthy.

Cut into fry shapes (not very good but I'll improve). Then steam on a grate for 8 mins to par cook. Take out and cool slightly letting some water evaporate. Then insert into a 260C oven with forced convection for about 8 mins till they brown. Remove from oven and spritz with a fine spray of Apple cider vinegar, then drop them into a bowl and dust with a little salt.

Result isn't pretty, and it doesn't have the look of deep fried fries, but it does taste very "Essence of potato" with the vinegar and salt balancing it. Next time I will cut potato into even logs, steam for 9 mins instead of 8.

Breakfast

My Virgin attempt at a cake

This is my first ever attempt at a cake (not counting my chocolate one - which was more of a chocolate custard with flour). I think it is worth trying to improve on, so documenting here.

For my next try, I'll probably take the cake out a little sooner (perhaps 195-200F). I might also try injecting some steam in the first 10 mins. All this to try to keep it more moist. Also, this cake could do with a bit more dried fruit.

Its a kind of concoction based on what I read on the internet plus some first principles cooking plus the ingredients I had on hand.

1. Fits a 20-25 cm springform tin.
2. 150g spelt flour plus 50g worth of flaxseed meal, sunflower seeds, and dried raspberries.
3. Mix dry ingredients together with about 1 teaspoon each of baking power and baking soda and a pinch of salt.
4. Get ready 140g of unsalted butter (melted). I used less butter because I wanted to use about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil (however, I think the taste did not come out). If not, then 180g of butter.
5. For the sweetness, about 120g of sweet liquids. I used a mix of honey, maple syrup (both of which were in their dregs in the bottles), and 4 tablespoons of my homemade lemoncello. I figured the slight acid of the lemoncello would aid the baking power/soda for the rise and make it lighter.
6. 2 eggs.
7. Mix well butter and the eggs. Then add the sweet liquids and mix well. Finally add the dry ingredients and mix. Do not over mix. Stop when all ingredients are well mixed.
8. Pour into springform tin and level the batter in the tin. Bake in 170C oven till done. In this case, I put in a thermometer and took it out at 205F. Unfortunately, I suspect this is a little too high and the cake got slightly dry.
9. While cake is baking, mix more 2-3 tablespoons of lemoncello with confectionary sugar.
10. Take the cake out and let it cool a little.
11. Poke a few holes in the surface with a fork. Using a spoon brush the mixture on the surface. The liquid will basically disappear into the cake.

Paella after a long absence

Used my new stainless steel skillet for this. Haven't done one for some time.

This pan does the burnt rice surface quite easily so have to be careful not to over burn.

Cheap and good industrial type skillet at $57.

Seafood soup. With marmite again!

This marmite is like a miracle ingredient. First the beef stew, now this fish stew.

This fish stew also goes very well with toasted bread with cheese on top.

1. Saute onions, celery, fennel until soft. Then add garlic slices and saute a few minutes more.

2. Take out vegetables. Turn heat to high. Then dump in prawn and bug shells (they call em bugs here. At home I call them crayfish. In Oz, the crayfish looks like a mini lobster), and cook over high heat until fragrant.

3. Put in about half a small can of tomato paste plus a tablespoon of marmite. Saute to caramelise the paste.

4. Pour in a healthy dollop of white wine (used a sauv blanc). Wait a min, then pour in chicken stock.

5. Simmer vigorously for about 30 minutes. Then strain out the solids.

6. Assemble seafood. One type of seafood at a time, lower seafood into vigorously boiling soup. Take out when just done. Then bring the stew to a boil again and just before serving, pour it over the cooked seafood.

7. For the bread, rub with garlic, then spread a bit of butter and top with cheese (I used brie). Then broil in the oven till toasted and cheese has melted. To eat the toaste, ladle the soup over the bread and let it soak.

 

Beef stew redux

I think I like this way of doing beef stew. It is aromatic and beefy, with a rich, but not cloying sauce. So I'm documenting here.

The critical success factors are:
A. Use a tablespoon of Marmite for the umami factor. The stew will not obviously taste of the marmite - it just enhances the savoriness. Kudos to seriouseats.com.

B. Top up with only just slightly covering the meat with stock. Then bake in 100C oven for the 3 hours, topping up with water as necessary. This will reduce the stock and make it rich.

Rough Steps:
1. About 1kg of beef stew meat. Cut into cubes and brown as usual. Preheat oven to 100C.

2. Take the meat out and saute the mirepoix (celery, onions, carrots) until fragrant. Scrape the fond off the sides of the pot.

3. Add sliced garlic and one entire small can of tomato paste and one heaping tablespoon of marmite. Stir and saute for a few minutes more.

4. Add the meat back in. Pour chicken stock and wine mix (2/3 wine, 1/3 stock) until it just covers the meat plus a bit more. Add thyme/bay leaf and one or two more bulbs of whole garlic. Bring to a vigorous boil

5. In my case, I poured the mix into a tray and then put it into the oven, instead of just putting the pot into the oven. This may or may not be necessary - in any case, we want to reduce the stock.

6. Wait 3 hours.

Red emperor

This fish is called a "Red Emperor" and is apparently a highly prized fish in Australia.

Bought an approximately 1.5kg specimen at a fish market in Perth. Then stuffed it with garlic, dill, coriander. Salted it, and poured olive oil and white wine over it with some water on the pan itself. I baked it in an oven for about 20 mins at 200C, took it out, tugged at a fin and decided to put it back for another 5-6). It came out just nice in doneness. Turns out I over stuffed the fish. When I ate the cheek meat (which did not touch the stuffing), it tasted better than the main body. Goes to show, the fresher the fish, the less you need to do.

Overall, quite nice, but I'd do less stuffing next time if it is really fresh.

George Street Quarter

Nice bistro-like place on George Street in Perth. Advertised as "Modern Australian". Limited menu, but of the 3 dishes we tried, 2 were great.

The starter was pretty darn amazing with a a wide variety of texture and taste. "Falafel, ash goats cheese, pickled turnip, beetroot hummus, parsnip lonzino, lavosh". The beetroot hummus was especially interesting and nice.

The beef was ok, not great after the revelation that was the starter. Basically a beef brisket braise. But it does have a unusual undertone - I'm betting it is marmite or one of its relatives.

Lastly, the dessert was very nice too. A sweet savory sponge-like cake with chocolate and vanilla sauce and ice cream. It even went well with the one or two basil leafs that went on top.

The front staff were Aussie, but the 3 kitchen staff in the smallish kitchen looked Chinese. The menu has hints of Singapore/Malaysia.

Photos pretty poor, but never mind...

Easy Peasy Baby Backed Ribs

I like mind not too moist on top (a bit dry and sticky) and not too sweet. The marinade is mostly Lee Kum Kee cha siew sauce with some djion mustard (must try hotter mustard next time) and a touch of maple syrup and balsamic vinegar.

I like the taste and texture but MW says a bit too salty (I had sprinkled salt before the marinade) so perhaps next time I will go easy on that.

Ribs were accompanied by rice, scallops and cabbage stir fry, and sake.

Method:
1. The night before: sprinkle salt on meat and then spread on the marinade. Insert into packaging and seal. Set aside some marinade in the fridge - add a bit of oil to make it more fluid.
2. On the morning, set temp on SV to 74C. 11-12 hours seems a nice time to get the ribs just barely falling off the bone with still a bit of bite. Put the sealed packages in.
3. Coming home for dinner, unpack the meat. Dry the surface of the meat, including any remnant sauce. The oven grill should be preheated well before hand - mine was 260C.
4. Put the meat in close to the broiler element and broil till the meat is charred in places (poss 5-10 mins- not sure, was busy with other prep).
5. Take the meat out and spread the remaining marinade on the top surface in a complete but fairly thin layer.
6. Put it back into the broiler and cook for a 3-5 mins more until the sauce looks sticky.

Modifications for next time:
A. use less or no salt.
B. try using hot mustard in place of the djion. Or just add chili flakes.

Mushroom soup redux

Redid this old favourite. Pretty nice this time. Used 5 pkts of mushrooms and will serve 4 moderate appetites (with bread).

1. I had 5 pkts assorted mushrooms: portobello, shitake, oyster, swiss browns.
2. Set aside some shitake mushrooms. For the rest, slice them up and mix with melted butter/olive oil, pepper, oregano and thyme in the oven pan. Set aside the stems as well.
3. Put the sliced mushrooms into a 200C oven and roast about 20+ mins until mushrooms are shrunken and browned.
4. In the mean time, on stove top, saute 1 onion + half a leek until translucent. Add generous amount of sliced garlic and continue saute'ing a few minutes more. Add about 4 tablespoons of flour and stir into veg until it disappears.
5. In a cloth bag or similar, add the reserved stems and chicken stock (about 4 cups). Also added some dried chinese mushrooms.
6. simmer for about 30 mins. Then remove the mushroom stems and dried mushrooms.
7. In a blender, add the roasted mushrooms and just enough stock to cover. Blend in batches till all done and pour back into another pot.
8. Add salt, pepper and creme fraiche to taste.
9. Add a bit more water or stock if too thick.
10. Slice the set aside mushrooms and put into soup and cook for a few mins.