chapter 3: bowls and spoons

If you’ve read my other books, you know how much I love making soups and stews. They’re easy to do, easy to eat, and leftovers are great for a midnight snack or quick meal. Some soups actually taste better if they’ve been made ahead, so they are great for entertaining (the Onion-Tomato-Bread “Soup,” for example, or the broth for the Ahi and Shiitake Mushroom Wontons). Some are fairly light (Corn Soup or Garlic Soup, for example) and would make good precursors to a two- or three-dish small-plates meal. Others, like the Halibut “Stew” or the Morel Mushroom “Casseroles,” are more substantial, and you could build the rest of your meal around them.

Not everything that comes in a bowl or cup is a soup. The Salmon, Halibut, and Scallop Ceviche and Pablo’s Cóctel de Camarones are crosses between salads and bowls, very refreshing for spring and summer.

When prepping soups, think of how you will serve them. If the recipe has diced vegetables, it’s important to cut them small enough so they’ll be easy to scoop up with a spoon. If people are going to “drink” the soup, you should puree it, and finely mince the garnish. I once did a party where I served soup in very small handmade bowls. Unfortunately, the teaspoons I put out didn’t fit into the bowls (oops!—demitasse spoons would have been handy). Luckily, the soup could be sipped.

Be really creative, and have fun with how you serve these soups. Try shot glasses, large silver or wooden spoons, sake cups, martini glasses, espresso or demitasse cups, or tiny bowls.

Ahi and Shiitake Mushroom Wontons in Broth

Serves 6

The basic ingredient in a traditional wonton filling is minced pork or minced shrimp, or a pork-and-shrimp combination. So the filling in this recipe is a bit of a departure. The wrapping we use for the dumplings is very traditional, though, as we work with fresh wonton skins. These wrappers can be found in the refrigerator case of most markets in our area, usually in the produce department. They come in three- to four-inch squares or rounds. Either will work: it just depends on whether you’d rather end up with half-moon or triangle shapes.

You want to cook the wontons all in one go, so if you don’t have a big ol’ pasta pot, get two smaller pots of water boiling. You want plenty of room for movement around each of the wontons. And as with cooking any pasta, the more water, the better.

You can make the broth up to one day ahead of time and reheat it when you’re ready to serve. And the broth is equally good with the Duck and Mustard Green Wontons.

filling

4 ounces ahi tuna

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons peanut oil

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1½ teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger

1 or 2 kaffir or other lime leaves, finely julienned, or the grated zest of ½ lime

¼ to ½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

broth

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 shallots, sliced into very thin rings

1 or 2 scallions, white and light green parts only, cut thinly on the diagonal

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tablespoons finely julienned peeled fresh ginger

2 tablespoons peeled and finely julienned carrots

1 tablespoon chili paste

1½ teaspoons tamari or dark soy sauce

1½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil

⅛ to ¼ teaspoon salt

Cornstarch, for dusting

18 wonton skins

3 to 4 quarts water

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon tiny fresh basil leaves, or chiffonade of larger leaves

1 tablespoon tiny fresh mint leaves, or chiffonade of larger leaves

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves

For the filling, cut the tuna into ¼-inch dice, and set it aside. Cut the mushrooms into ¼-inch dice and set them aside separately. To make the filling, heat the sesame oil and peanut oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly caramelized, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir everything around well. Add the tuna, lime leaves, salt, and pepper; cook a minute more, stirring to make sure everything gets well mixed. Scrape the mixture out onto a small baking sheet or shallow dish and place in the refrigerator to chill.

In the meantime, make the broth. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook just till the sugar has dissolved. Add the remaining broth ingredients, bring back to a simmer, and cook a minute more. Remove from the heat and reserve. Reheat the broth just before serving.

To make the wontons, dust a baking sheet with cornstarch. Lay out 2 or 3 wonton skins at a time on a clean dry surface, and brush them around the edges with water. Spoon a tablespoonful or so of filling onto the center of each wrapper, leaving space around the sides for sealing, and fold over to form a triangle. Crimp the edges with your fingers. Place the wontons on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining wrappers. Cover and refrigerate till needed.

Shortly before you’re ready to serve, put the water and salt in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, place 6 bowls in a warm oven and start reheating the broth. When the water has reached a boil, carefully add the wontons. Cook till they begin to float, which will take from 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the thickness of your wonton skins.

To serve, place 3 wontons in each of the warmed bowls, ladle some hot broth over them, and finish with a sprinkling of basil, mint, and cilantro.

Duck and Mustard Green Wontons with Vietnamese-Style Sauce

Serves 6

Here’s another variation on the wonton theme—a filling made with sautéed minced duck and mustard greens. We are able to order ground duck meat for the restaurant, but this might be a trickier proposition for home cooks. If your butcher won’t grind duck meat for you, you can mince it yourself. Breast meat is easier to manage than leg meat, which has a lot of silver skin and connective tissue that needs to be removed.

For the greens, you can use any kind of baby mustard greens. Our gardens are often overflowing with mustard greens of all kinds, including some of the Asian varieties. They practically grow like weeds in our climate. Japanese red mustard is great in these wontons, so get that if you can. It has a nice mineral flavor and a pepperiness that blends well with the rich duck.

For a different twist on the recipe, fry the wontons in peanut or canola oil till golden and crisp before serving them with the Vietnamese-style sauce. The wontons—either fried or boiled—are also excellent served in the broth from the Ahi and Shiitake Mushroom Wontons.

If you have the option, get fresh wonton skins, which can be found in the refrigerator case of most markets. They work much better than the frozen ones.

vietnamese-style sauce

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

4 tablespoons fish sauce (nuoc mam)

2 shallots, minced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, mint, or Thai basil leaves

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

filling

3 tablespoons peanut oil or light olive oil

1½ cups minced raw duck meat

1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger

3 scallions, white and light green parts only, minced

1 tablespoon minced garlic

5 cups (firmly packed) chiffonade of baby mustard greens or beet greens

1 tablespoon tamari

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

3 to 4 quarts water

2 tablespoons salt

30 wonton skins

garnishes

Thinly sliced scallions

Cilantro or mint leaves

Shredded carrot

To make the sauce, combine the lime juice, fish sauce, shallots, cilantro, sugar, and cayenne; mix well. Reserve till needed.

For the filling, heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the duck and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes, until just cooked through. Toss in the ginger, scallions, and garlic; stir-fry another minute or so. Add the greens and cook until they have released their liquid. Pour in the tamari and hoisin and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. If this hasn’t happened within 2 to 3 minutes, scoop out the solids and reduce the liquid until the pan is almost dry, then recombine. Place the mixture in the refrigerator to chill.

Once the filling is well chilled, you can make the wontons. Set the water and salt on to boil. Get a little bowl of water ready for wonton sealing and start stuffing. You’ll want about a tablespoon of the duck mixture in each of the skins. Moisten the edges with just a little water, fold over to form a triangle, and pinch to seal. Cook 1 to 2 minutes in boiling water, until the dough is just tender and the filling is hot. Drain.

To serve, toss the scallions, cilantro, and carrots together. Place some of this garnish in the bottom of each bowl (Asian rice bowls are most attractive), and top with 5 wontons each. Pour some of the Vietnamese-style sauce over, and pass the remaining sauce around or keep it handy if anyone would like extra.

Halibut “Stew” with Saffron Broth

Serves 6

Actually, the fish in this recipe is grilled, not stewed, and the key to this dish is the broth, which is flavored with saffron, fennel, and sweet onions. It’s probably easiest to use clam juice for the broth, as you can easily find bottled clam juice in markets. Fish stock is great, but unless you do a lot of fishing, it’s not easy to come by. If you’re using clam juice, be sure to get one without monosodium glutamate (MSG). If your tomatoes are really juicy, you may need less clam juice than called for, or use the smaller amount of wine. The broth can be made a day ahead and kept refrigerated until needed. Reheat it and add the fish just before serving.

Almost any kind of cooked seafood can be substituted for the halibut in this dish, or you can use a combination of fish and shellfish. Steamed mussels, grilled jumbo shrimp, or lobster or Dungeness crab, roughly chopped and cracked, would all work.

Thick-cut French bread or sourdough bread, brushed with olive oil and grilled, is a great accompaniment.

broth

½ sweet onion (Georgia, Vidalia, Maui, or white)

½ bulb fennel

1 to 1½ tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced to a paste

3 strands of saffron

½ to ⅔ cup white wine

2 juicy vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled and minced

2 cups clam juice, fish stock, or water

1 bay leaf

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

12 ounces halibut or sea bass

Olive oil, for brushing

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

garnish options

Finely chopped green olives

Minced parsley leaves

Torn or pinched fennel fronds

Aioli or Garlicky Romesco Sauce

For the broth, cut the onion and fennel bulb into ¼-inch dice, reserving some of the fennel fronds for garnish, if desired. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat and sauté the onion and fennel 5 minutes or so, until they are just barely tender. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add the saffron and stir to toast 1 minute, then add the wine and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes, clam juice, bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Shortly before serving, brush the fish with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the fish to the desired doneness, 2 to 3 minutes per side. The fish can also be seared in a skillet with the tiniest bit of oil. Ladle the broth out into warmed bowls, then flake nice-size pieces of the fish into each. Garnish as you like and serve steamy-hot.

Garlic Soup

Serves 6

This basic soup dresses up or down very well. Blended with the optional cream, it is very elegant. Unblended, without cream, it’s very rustic. For a great first course, fill coffee-cup-size bowls halfway with soup, and top each serving with a small poached egg and two or three croutons. For a Spanish tapas meal, add a teaspoon of pimentón paprika while cooking the leeks and garlic and omit the cream. Then garnish with small quail eggs, poached or fried, and a crouton made with a nice fruity Spanish olive oil.

My favorite type of garlic is Spanish red garlic, followed by Italian red garlic. Both of these are sweeter than the standard white garlic. However, if you are careful not to caramelize the garlic, whichever kind you use will become sweet and mild, and not at all overpowering.

1 whole head garlic

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 leek, white and light green parts only, well rinsed and finely sliced

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 small potatoes, cut into ½-inch dice

2½ to 3 cups chicken stock or water

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper cup cream (optional)

¼ cup cream (optional)

garnish options

Minced garlic chives and chive blossoms

Toasted almond slices

Finely grated hard-boiled egg

Minced parsley leaves with a drizzle of truffle oil

Sprigs of thyme

Break up the head of garlic by pressing down on it with the heel of your hand or the broad side of a knife. Separate the cloves and cut off the root ends, then peel and slice the garlic. In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat, add the leek and thyme, and sweat slowly until soft, 5 to 10 minutes or longer—the slower, the better. Add the garlic, increase the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, till softened. Take care not to let the garlic brown.

Add the potatoes and stock and simmer until the potatoes are soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper. You may serve as is or, for a more elegant finish, put the soup in a blender, add the cream, and process until smooth. Reheat the soup if it has cooled too much. Sprinkle each serving with one of the garnish options, if desired.

Mussels and Clams with Andouille Sausage in Tangerine Broth

Serves 6

This is one of our more popular small bowls at Mustards. It’s made with a citrus broth that is a perfect match for the clams, mussels, and smoky sausage. Andouille is a highly seasoned, garlicky smoked pork sausage that is an essential ingredient in many Cajun and Creole dishes. We use Hobbs’s applewood-smoked andouille sausage, but any high-quality smoked sausage, linguiça, or garlic sausage would also be tasty. We make this often in the winter, when tangerines are at their best.

For the grilled bread, we use a rustic levain or sourdough-style loaf. For another fabulous variation, skip the bread and try this dish with a pasta that has been cooked al dente. Farfalle or any short tube pasta such as penne would be my recommendation.

6 half-inch-thick slices rustic country bread

Olive oil or butter, for coating

broth

2⅔ cups freshly squeezed tangerine juice or orange juice

⅓ cup white wine

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil

24 mussels, cleaned and rinsed

24 clams, cleaned and rinsed

¾ cup ¼-inch dice andouille sausage

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced shallot

2 to 3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt

¾ to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves

½ tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

To make the toast, lightly brush the bread slices on each side with olive oil or butter, and toast over a grill or on a baking sheet in a 375°F oven until crispy and golden on the outside but still a little soft in the center.

For the broth, combine the tangerine juice, white wine, and lime juice and keep chilled until ready to use.

Heat 2 large sauté pans or 1 large roasting pan set over 2 burners using high heat (you want a lot of surface area). Add the olive oil and allow it to heat up. Toss in the shellfish and sausage and cook, shaking and stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the garlic and shallot and cook 30 seconds or so. Add about 2 cups of the tangerine juice mix and cook, stirring, until the shellfish have opened and the sauce has reduced by about half. Remove and discard any shellfish that have not opened. If the pan seems to be getting too dry, add more tangerine broth. Reduce the temperature and add the butter, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley; stir and toss around until everything is well coated.

Dish up in deep soup bowls, pouring pan juices equally over each bowl. Tuck a slab of grilled bread in at the side of the bowls to soak up the juice.

Salmon, Halibut, and Scallop Ceviche with Coconut

Serves 6

There’s no real cooking involved when you make a ceviche, but you do need to plan ahead, as the seafood needs to marinate at least three hours but not more than eight hours. The fish “cooks” in the lime juice marinade: too long, and it will actually be overdone and mushy. Use only the freshest fish for this recipe. When it’s in season, we use Pacific king salmon; it’s so-o-o good! Amounts don’t have to be exact, but you’ll need about 10 ounces each of salmon and halibut.

For an interesting show, serve the ceviche in chunks of fresh coconut. To crack a coconut, place it on top of several layers of newspaper on a strong, stable surface—and then give it a good whack with a mallet, or some more refined hits with a pick and a hammer. You want to end up with three or four large pieces. Have some paper towels handy for the liquid that is in the center of the coconut, or catch it in a cup if you can. Some people like to drink the juice, some don’t. Some people eat the coconut meat, others don’t. Either way, the pieces of coconut make for a great presentation. Coconut milk is an extract of the coconut meat itself and not of the juice; you can buy cans of coconut milk at most regular supermarkets.

To keep the avocados fresh and bright, cut them in half and remove the pits, then dunk them quickly in ice water. Peel and slice them when you’re ready to serve. Plantain Chips or tortilla chips would be an excellent accompaniment to this dish.

4 ounces scallops

8 to 12 ounces salmon

8 to 12 ounces halibut

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

½ teaspoon finely chopped seeded serrano chile

1 red onion, minced

1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

2 coconuts

1 or 2 avocados, sliced

Cilantro sprigs

Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish

Slice the scallops into ¼-inch-thick circles and place in a nonreactive bowl big enough to hold all the seafood. Cut the salmon and halibut into 3 or 4 lengthwise strips about 1 inch wide, then cut these strips crosswise into ¼-inch slices to match the scallops. Add the fish to the scallops. Pour ¾ cup of the lime juice into the bowl and mix gently but well, making sure all the seafood gets coated with some juice. Cover and put in the refrigerator to marinate 2 hours.

Put the seafood in a colander to drain, and clean out the bowl while it’s draining. Return the seafood to the clean bowl, along with the salt, pepper, chile, onion, coconut milk, and remaining ¼ cup lime juice. Mix gently but well, then cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, but no longer than 6 hours.

When you’re ready to serve, crack each of the coconuts into 3 cup-shaped pieces. Check the ceviche for seasoning and fill each of the coconut bowls with some of it. Garnish with avocado slices, a sprig of cilantro, and a drizzle of olive oil. If the coconut shells are too much trouble, just serve the ceviche in small bowls or in sea scallop shells, if you have them.

Pablo’s Cóctel de Camarones

Serves 6

This dish features huge prawns that have been poached in an aromatic and somewhat spicy broth, and a cocktail sauce that will knock your socks off. There are several unexpected ingredients in our cocktail sauce: ginger, jalapeño, and daikon, for example, and they all help lift this sauce to a higher realm. But what really gives it extra zing is that we make it with fresh horseradish. If you can’t get fresh horseradish, you can use freshly prepared store-bought horseradish, but get the kind that is kept in the refrigerated section of your market. Refrigerated preparations are made in small batches and are much better than those that have been stabilized and left sitting on the shelf at ambient temperatures for unknown lengths of time. Any extra sauce would be great on fried oysters, oysters on the half shell, lobster salad, or a variation of this cocktail made with cooked, diced octopus and small shucked oysters.

In the restaurant we poach the camarones in a basket-strainer that is just smaller than the pot with the bouillon, so we can easily lift them all out when they are done. I always poach prawns with the shells on, as it increases flavor. After poaching, the bouillon can be strained and used again to make a soup. If you are not going to use the bouillon right away, though, it should be cooled and frozen.

cocktail sauce

1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger

3 tablespoons grated peeled fresh horseradish

¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice

¼ cup minced peeled daikon or other radish

1 cup tomato juice

¾ cup ketchup

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced cilantro leaves

1 shallot, minced

1 jalapeño chile or ½ pasilla chile, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shake Worcestershire sauce

2 shakes Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon good-quality tequila

bouillon

4 quarts water

1 onion, chopped into 1-inch chunks

1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks

3 stalks celery, chopped into 1-inch chunks

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 bay leaves

¼ bunch fresh thyme

½ bunch fresh parsley, stems only

Freshly ground black pepper

2 lemons, halved

½ cup white wine

18 large prawns (21 to 25 count)

6 medium-size romaine leaves, chopped

1½ avocados, sliced

6 sprigs cilantro

Extra virgin olive oil

For the cocktail sauce, mix the ginger, horseradish, and lime juice together in a good-size bowl. (The lime juice will keep the ginger and horseradish light-colored.) Then add the remaining ingredients for the cocktail sauce and mix well. Cover and keep chilled until needed.

To make the bouillon, put the water, onion, carrot, celery, paprika, cayenne, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley in a large pot. Grind in a little black pepper, squeeze in the juice of the lemons, and add the wine. Cover and bring to a boil.

Once the bouillon reaches a boil, reduce it to a simmer and add the prawns. Poach until they are just cooked through. This should take between 3 and 5 minutes, depending on the size of the prawns and the heat of your poaching liquid. Spread the cooked prawns out on a baking sheet and put them in the fridge. You want them to cool quickly, so they don’t get mushy. Once cool, peel 6 of the prawns ¾ of the way down, leaving their tails intact. Peel the remaining prawns completely. Devein all the prawns; set aside the 6 with tails attached for garnishing, and coarsely chop the rest.

To serve, place some of the chopped romaine in the bottom of a stemmed glass such as a parfait or martini glass. Add some cocktail sauce and chopped prawns on top of the romaine, then some avocado slices. Garnish with the whole prawns, cilantro sprigs, and drizzle a few drops of extra virgin olive oil around. Serve with extra cocktail sauce on the side.

Onion-Tomato-Bread “Soup”

Serves 6 to 8

You can make this as soupy or as thick as you like, depending on when you put the croutons in. If you prefer a soupier version with a little crunch, add the croutons just before serving; if you are looking for something more saladlike, add the croutons earlier to give them time to absorb more of the juices. Be sure to use a sturdy rustic loaf of bread for the croutons. To make this cool soup more interesting, use two different colors of tomatoes.

Some thoughts on serving: serve in teacups (this is a great way to use your grandma’s collection) or in espresso cups. With espresso cups, you will get eight servings.

¼ onion, peeled and cut into ¼-inch wedges

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups diced vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled if you wish

1 tablespoon Spanish sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons minced scallions, white and light green parts only

1 clove garlic, minced to a paste

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 cup ½-inch-square croutons made from a good rustic French bread

¼ cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese or feta cheese

Toasted pumpkin seeds or hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Put the onion in a small baking dish and drizzle it with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Stir it around to be sure it’s well coated, then cover with aluminum foil. Bake till steamy-tender, 20 to 30 minutes, then remove the foil and continue baking until the onion caramelizes, 10 to 15 minutes.

Put the tomatoes and sherry vinegar in a large bowl and mix well. Run half the tomatoes through a food mill or whirl them in a blender until smooth. Strain to remove the seeds and any tough bits. Return the pureed tomatoes to the bowl and add the onion, scallions, garlic, lemon juice, basil, tarragon, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil at the end. If you want the thicker version of the soup, fold in the croutons 15 to 20 minutes before serving; otherwise, add them at the last minute.

Garnish with the cheese and with pumpkin seeds or hazelnuts, if desired.

Baked Goat Cheese and Tomato Fondue

Serves 6

Okay, let’s say it’s January, and you’ve completely forgotten how wonderful fresh heirloom tomatoes taste: you could still make this dish with canned diced tomatoes and the results would be pretty decent. But sometime in your life, make this with ripe, warm-from-the-garden tomatoes and treat yourself to something spectacular!

Cabecou is an aged goat cheese that is formed in disks. It comes in jars, packed in olive oil. Save the olive oil to use in vinaigrettes. We use Laura Chenel’s Cabecou.

Drain the tomatoes if they are too juicy. And don’t let the sauce cook too much: you just want to warm the tomatoes. You don’t want them to break down and become saucelike.

You can make one large serving of this or six individual ones. Terra-cotta baking dishes would be ideal, but any ovenproof dishes will work. If you have one, I recommend using a convection oven for the baking; just watch your time, as the fondue will cook faster.

6 thin slices sturdy bread

2 pounds heirloom tomatoes or 2 (16-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 large shallots, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

¼ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 fresh bay leaf, if possible, or 1 sprig fresh basil

2 tablespoons white wine

2 tablespoons sliced dates, prunes, or dried apricots

1 (9-ounce) jar Cabecou cheese, at room temperature

If you want smaller croutons, cut the slices of bread in half. Grill, toast, or oven-toast them so they are nice and crispy. Set them aside.

For the fondue, peel and seed the tomatoes. If they are extremely juicy, set them in a colander to drain 20 minutes or so, then chop them into ½-inch pieces. (Canned tomatoes should be drained, too.) Heat the olive oil in a heavy wide pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook slowly until very tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Increase the heat and add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, and bay leaf; cook another 30 seconds or so. Add the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add the dried fruit and take the pan off the heat. The dish can be held at this point and finished later.

To finish the dish, preheat the oven to 500°F. Cut the disks of cheese in half horizontally, making 6 small rounds. Spoon the tomatoes into a baking dish and top with the cheese. Bake until the top of the cheese is golden and the tomato sauce is heated through and looks rich and thick. Depending on your oven, this should take 6 to 8 minutes.

Set the baking dish on a napkin-lined plate (to keep it from sliding around) with the “croutons” alongside, so your guests can make their own toasts. It is best to spread some cheese first, then spoon some tomatoes on top. Make sure you warn everyone about the hot dish.

Alternatively, cut the bread into bite-size cubes, toast till crispy, and have your guests skewer them with fondue forks and coat them with the cheese and tomato fondue.

Wild Mushroom Stew

Serves 6

One of my favorite things to do is to wander around at farmers’ markets. You can usually find many more varieties of mushrooms there than you will at most supermarkets. You can also find kits for growing your own mushrooms, which is a fun thing to do. Hunting for mushrooms in the wild can be deadly, even if you have an expert with you. I have a friend who ended up in the hospital because, even after sixty years of experience hunting for wild mushrooms, she picked the wrong one. So don’t be crazy! When you want to make this stew, go to your local farmers’ market first.

This is super with any fresh mushroom. Morels, porcini, chanterelles, hedgehogs, trumpets—they’re all great, and it just depends on what’s in season. You can also use a mixture of reconstituted dried wild mushrooms and domestic mushrooms. Reconstitute one and a half to two ounces of dried mushrooms, then add enough domestic mushrooms to equal three cups. It’s not absolutely necessary, but the stew will be more interesting if you make it with three different types of mushrooms.

To clean mushrooms, use a brush with semifirm bristles, or a pastry brush for more delicate types. There is nothing worse than sand in the mouth, so if your mushrooms seem really dirty, rinse them with cold water as briefly as you can, and dry immediately with paper towels. Trim off any tough stems, and cut the mushrooms in half if they are big.

The stew is served over roasted potatoes, but put out plenty of crusty hot bread, too, so your guests can mop up every last bit of the densely flavorful sauce. Roast the potatoes while you prepare the stew, and everything will come together at the same time. For a variation, try serving the stew over noodles or polenta instead of the potatoes. And another little tip: it’s great with poached eggs, too.

6 small Yukon Gold potatoes

Olive oil, for coating

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

18 pearl onions

18 cloves garlic

sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon porcini powder or other powdered dried mushroom

2 tablespoons sherry, preferably Pedro Ximénez

⅔ cup diced peeled tomatoes

1 to 1¼ cups vegetable or mushroom stock

½ cup cream

3 cups mixed whole wild mushrooms, or cut in halves or quarters if very large

2 tablespoons finely shredded fresh basil, tarragon, parsley, or chives

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the potatoes in half, roll them in a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 20 minutes.

Cut off the root ends of the onions and garlic cloves and blanch in boiling salted water about 1 minute to tenderize them. Shock in ice water and pop them out of their skins. Finely mince 2 of the cloves of garlic, and set the rest aside along with the onions.

To make the sauce, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat; add the minced garlic and cook 1 minute, but don’t let the garlic brown. Stir in the mushroom powder and cook about 30 seconds, till aromatic. Add the sherry and reduce by half, then add the tomatoes. Toss and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, until the tomato juices have evaporated. Add the stock and cook, stirring now and then, until reduced by half. Add the cream and heat till just hot through, then remove from the heat.

In a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of the oil over high heat, and add the mushrooms. Let them sweat for a bit, then increase the heat to cook off the juices and caramelize the mushrooms. Add the reserved onions and garlic, stir, and cook until caramelized. Add the reserved sauce and reduce to a nice thick consistency. Season with salt and pepper to finish.

To serve, place the potatoes on small plates or in small bowls (traditional Spanish cazuelas, if you have them) and top with mushroom stew. Sprinkle with herbs and serve with lots of hot crusty bread.

Morel Mushroom “Casseroles” with Pedro Ximénez Sherry and Thyme

Serves 6

I invented this dish for a friend who loves to take in the smells of foods before eating them. It’s served in individual lidded dishes so that each person gets the whole hit of the earthy aroma of this soup as they take the lid off their own little “casserole.” I found these dishes in San Francisco’s Japantown. If you live near a Chinatown, you might find them there, too. It’s okay to make the soup ahead and bake it just before serving. This is a very rich soup, so keep the rest of the meal simple and light.

If you use dried morels, you can combine them with any fresh mushrooms, such as buttons, porcinis, or shiitakes. For the topping, we use a pecorino cheese called Pepato. Pepato is flavored with black peppercorns: this gives it a little extra bite, which works well with this dish. We get it from Bellwether Farms, a local cheese producer.

2 pounds fresh morel mushrooms, stemmed, or 2 ounces dried morels and 1¾ pounds fresh cultivated mushrooms, stemmed

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

½ small sweet white onion, cut into thin crescents

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

3 cloves garlic

½ cup Pedro Ximénez sherry or other cream sherry

¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ to ½ cup whipping cream

¾ cup shredded pecorino cheese, Pepato if possible

If you’re using dried morels, soak them in hot water till soft. When softened, remove them from the water, reserving the water, and gently squeeze out the excess liquid. Slowly pour the soaking water into a clean bowl, stopping before any bits of sand get into the bowl. Use this liquid in addition to the sherry and cream. Cut all the mushrooms neatly into halves or quarters.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high and add the butter. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring, several minutes, till soft. Add the mushrooms, thyme, and garlic; cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have absorbed any liquid and are slightly caramelized. Add the sherry, salt, and pepper; cook over medium-high heat till reduced and very syrupy. Add the reserved mushroom water, if you have any, and ¼ cup of the cream. Reduce until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary, and add more cream if the mixture seems too dry. Pour into 6 individual ovenproof bowls and reserve till just before you’re ready to serve. If you want to hold the dish for an extended length of time, refrigerate and increase the final baking time accordingly.

To finish the dish, preheat the oven to 475°F. Sprinkle with the cheese, cover, and bake 8 to 10 minutes, until heated through and bubbling. If you don’t have lidded casseroles, cover the dishes with aluminum foil. To ensure doneness, remove 1 of the casseroles and carefully check the temperature at the center. If it doesn’t seem hot, gently press everything back down and return to the oven for a few more minutes, till very hot. Serve with crusty warm bread for sopping up every bit of sauce.

Corn Soup Two Ways

Serves 6

Pablo made this soup for one of the Supper Club dinners we do at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, and everyone asked for it to be on the menu always. It’s quick and simple, and everyone loves it. If you make the soup and the garnishes ahead, it’s easy as pie at service time. For added flavor, I often make a corn stock for the soup using the cobs. If you want to go this way, begin by making the stock (see the directions below).

Either serve the soup with the basil-flavored tomatoes only, or go for the combination of squash blossoms and huitlacoche. You can buy ten-ounce packages of squash blossoms in the market, and that is what I worked with in this recipe. This amount will give you enough for a garnish for six mini portions of soup as well as six Squash Blossom Quesadillas, should you choose to make some at the same time (just an idea).

Huitlacoche is a dark gray fungus that grows only on corn. Corn farmers consider it a blight, but gourmets consider it a delicacy (it is sometimes identified as the Mexican truffle). You can now get it fresh, canned, or frozen at Latin American markets (it may be spelled cuitlacoche on the label). We prefer fresh or frozen, but use whatever you can find. It’s becoming more and more common, but is still fairly expensive. If you can get your hands on some, you’re in for a treat!

Pablo’s huitlacoche garnish is also great swirled into cream and used over pasta, or stirred at the end into a Parmesan risotto, or tucked into a quesadilla.

corn soup

4 ears white corn

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

½ leek, cut lengthwise and then into thin half-moons; or 1 small sweet onion, cut into thin slivers

½ pasilla chile, seeded and finely minced

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3½ to 4 cups chicken, corn, or vegetable stock

¼ cup whipping cream

double-basil tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 tomatoes, peeled and diced