Guest Edition: Justine's Fennel and Mushroom

The very definition of "super good."
Trust me. I know definitions.


Location:
Chez Moi

Teamwork! Justine dishes; Caleb grills.

Attendees:
Caleb, Drew, Jacques, Justine, Katie, Sebastien, Tiffany, and me


Menu:
Justine's Fennel and Mushroom Soup
Justine's Spicy Onion Marmalade Grilled Cheesewiches
Katie's Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Candied Walnuts, Cranberries and Balsamic-Glazed Red Onions
(And, of course, assorted veggies and olives and cheeses and bread; you know, the yoozh)


Entertainment:
An excellent description of Bertolucci's The Conformist, with such information as "This guy's a total fascist, and he totally sucks," and "so they go to sexy Paris."
This sweet new game where my friends throw pennies over the wall at me while I change clothes. "Did that one hit you?" "No, just one of the many piles of clothes." Awwwww.
A field trip to MOTR for writer's night, where we:
a) were graced with a poetry reading by Tiffany
b) heard some pretty good music and some pretty bad music
c) planned to at some point make ourselves the "whatever," and
d) learned that "It's hard not to be frank with yourself when you've got eight hands." SO TRUE.


The Soup:
Justine let me know ages ago that she would be happy to take a night on for me and give me the night off. For several reasons, (I feel bad letting someone else do work I've imposed upon myself, I feel like I'm already forcing people to eat soup all the time and shouldn't force them to cook too, I'm kind of controlling after all, etc.) it took this long for it to happen, but BOY am I glad it did. Oh, man. (I gotta stop saying "man," man.)

For one thing, I was basically giddy to not be cooking last night. For another thing? Girl can COOK.

Brains, talent, beauty...if I didn't love her so much, I might be forced to hate her. Like, by law.

Justine insists that the first taste of her soup was awful, and she tweaked and tweaked and tweaked until it was simply marvelous. She saw the angel in the mushroom and seasoned until she set it free (? (oof.)).

Mushrooms make me glad to be alive just by their very existence. When they're propped up to new heights in a soup like this, I'm near euphoria. I also love her brilliant use of almond milk—I love almond milk but for some reason have never incorporated it into soups. It was just so creamy and savory and perfectly salted. I know I loved a soup when I can't write about it without getting megacravings for more.

Justine described herself as an "intui-cook" (cute!)—therefore, the below is an approximation of her process. She also noted, "if I ever make this again I would want to fix the texture. i think that was its main problem." But, y'all, she cra-zay. There was nothing wrong with this soup. And, frankly, if something were wrong with this soup, then I wouldn't want to be right. Pretty sure it was better than anything I've ever made.

SO: If you're feeling adventurous and want to trust your instincts to cook, try out Justine's guidelines. You can do it!

Fennel and Mushroom Soup
as penned by the lovely Ms. Ludwig

1 bulb of fennel
1 onion
1 bouillon cube
almond milk
porcini mushrooms
white button mushrooms
dehydrated mushroom mix
olive oil
thyme
pepper
truffle salt
herbamare
garlic
dollop of buttah
greek yogurt

soak dehydrated mushrooms
while this is going down, cut up the other mushrooms and saute them in
olive oil with thyme, garlic, herbamare, and pepper until they are
slightly browned set aside
take a pot of water add bouillon cube and boil
add chopped up fennel and onion
let cook until fennel and onion are soft
add the no longer dehydrated mushrooms
cook for a bit
add rest of the mushrooms
cook for a bit
blend it up in a blender
add a tiny bit of butter
add almond milk
add truffle salt

when serving put a spoon of greek yogurt on the bottom of the bowl and
spoon the soup on top