WHAT A TURKEY

Ah, Thanksgiving is upon us.  It brings back so many memories of the holiday celebration when I was a kid…… Autumn leaves, pumpkins, football games and EEEK…….  Mom’s turkey!  I don’t want to disparage my mother’s culinary skills, but when I hear the term, “Mom’s home cooking,” a little shiver goes up my spine.  My mom, bless her, had many good qualities, not least of which was her wicked sense of humor, but pumpkin pie, turkey or anything that took place at or near a stove, had disaster written all over it.  Here’s the sad thing……. she had no clue that cooking wasn’t her biggest talent and went about making Thanksgiving dinner with a gusto and zeal that you just had to admire.  The results, however, not so much.

A turkey, according to Mom, needed to be cooked in a covered roasting pan for a very loooong time.  She would start the bird the evening before, cook it all night, then all morning, then……… well, you get the idea.

At dinner she would proudly exclaim over the fact that the turkey was so tender, “it’s falling off the bone”, while the family mournfully stared at a bare turkey carcass with bits of stringy meat piled around it.  The gravy went perfectly with the turkey.  One year, my sister Aggie got into big trouble when, in answer to Mom’s question, “Would you like some gravy?” answered, “Sure, I’ll have a lump!”

Now, many years later, the turkey is perfect, the gravy lump free and my memories of Thanksgiving are viewed through the soft lens of time.  Somehow, magically, they seem as sweet as Mom’s apple pie.

So, here’s wishing all five of you that follow my blog a bountiful and blessed Thanksgiving day.  For a special treat, I’m leaving you with my mom’s secret technique for roasting turkey.  Just Kidding!

Instead, I’m sharing a new family tradition, … my son John’s recipe for his justifiably famous Thee Mushroom Cream Soup.  It’s awesome.  Enjoy.

P.S.  The package of ladyfingers that I bought in early August and left on my microwave oven are doing beautifully!  No mold, no signs of age, and still as soft as a baby’s bottom.  I don’t know about you, but that scares the living bejeebers out of me.

THREE MUSHROOM CREAM SOUP

Our son, John, has been making this soup for us since his days cooking at the Mystic Hilton in Mystic, CT


1 or 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, white and light green only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, sliced thin
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch scallions - white and 1 or 2 inches of green, sliced
1 Tablespoon ginger, minced
8 ounces shitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced
8 ounces crimini (baby bella) or button mushrooms, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Pepper, to taste
Soy sauce, to taste

Soak porcini mushrooms in hot tap water (enough to cover mushrooms) for 10 to 15 minutes, strain through cheesecloth or paper towels and chop mushrooms.  Set aside mushroom liquid.

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add leek, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, scallions and ginger and cook an additional minute.  Add shitake and crimini mushrooms and cook until mushrooms give up their liquid and start to take on color, about 5 or 6 minutes.  Add porcini mushrooms and reserved mushroom liquid.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.  Add heavy cream and heat, but do not boil the soup.  Add soy sauce and pepper to taste.