Juice fasting, Soup fasting

March 20, 2004

In preparation of my trip to PRChina I am fasting this week. Liquids only� primarily fruit and vegetable juices, but also broths and froths. It is exciting to present myself with the opportunity of creating new juice and soup recipes as well doing a survey on rice, soy, and barley ‘milks’. I had never fasted during the winter and this gives me the opportunity to focus on developing satisfying and warming liquid foods of culinary interest.

Enoki mushroom and roasted garlic broth:

Although this soup takes an hour to make, it only requires 10 minutes of actual work.

1 bulb of garlic (separated but not peeled)
olive oil (a few good ‘glugs’)
sesame oil (a few good ‘dashes’)
organic onions (2 thinly sliced)
jerusalem artichoke (2 thinly sliced)
shitake mushrooms (4 thinly sliced)
water (1,5 ltrs)
dashi (3 tbs)
enoki mushrooms (2 bouquets)

Roast the garlic in a ceramic dish for at least 30 minutes (~200�c).

In the soup pan heat the olive oil and some sesame oil over a good flame until the oil threatens to smoke. Add the onions, stirring sloppily and occasionally. Add the jerusalem artichoke slices doing the same and after a while add the shitake slices. Let these ingredients almost carmelise.

Dump in the water - it should sizzle pretty violently. Stir in the dashi and taste/adjust seasoning with soy sauce or ume su.

Lower the flame and ignore the entire pot until it starts to beckon with a warm nutty aroma (30 mins later?). By now the garlic cloves in the oven should also be beckoning. Carefully undress a few of the roasted cloves of their outer skins and chuck them in the brew.

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and a few dashes of sesame oil until almost smokey and place the enoki mushroom bouquets in the pan. They should sizzle and release a wonderful smell. Fry over a high flame turning occasionally until all the sides of the mushroom bouquets are golden. This takes less than a minute if the flame is high. When the enoki is done throw it in the soup and enjoy watching it sizzle. Let the soup simmer for 15 minutes longer and scoop out the broth into pre-warmed bowls.

If you’re eating with someone who is not fasting, it goes without saying that they might want to eat the solids of this soup!

debra at 22:32 | | post to del.icio.us

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