Tomato Mountain

Spicy mushroom miso soup

The time has probably come for me to consider investing in a new camera, as this EXTREMELY DELICIOUS DISH is not particularly well-photographed. 

All that aside, let’s talk about what’s in it.

About 2 cups of vegetable broth (I’m using stuff I made a few weeks ago with some dregs of the fall season that has been stored in my freezer).

A cup of water

About a teaspoon of miso (I actually used a tablespoon, which made this dish a little bit of a salt bomb on my system)

A similar amount of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce if you’re not a convert to Bragg’s yet. It’s seriously way tastier and healthier.)

A ton of shredded ginger (about the size of a human thumb’s worth of ginger) (sorry, that’s gross)

5-6 cloves roasted garlic (I happened to have some that I roasted up for a totally sweet event thrown by Graze Magazine last night; use 1-2 cloves minced raw garlic if you’d rather, but do it based on your taste)

1 tablespoon of hot chili paste (I still have some Danger Sauce that I forgot to blog about in September. It’s literally just a bunch of fresh hot peppers packed into a food processor with just enough oil to let them blend. They’ve been keeping magnificently in the fridge. Anyway, do this based on taste as well, but don’t be stingy if you are trying to destroy the cold that has recently taken hold of you a week before your big vacation.)

A tablespoon of something sweet (I have a jar of Sungold tomato preserves that I dropped and which popped open [sorry, Robin] a number of weeks ago, so those work great. You could also use a sweet chili sauce like Mae Ploy, honey or agave nectar.)

About a dozen crimini mushrooms (preferably acquired from River Valley. Sliced somewhat thin.)

About a fourth of a normal package of angel hair pasta (I had a bunch around from last night!)

A good spray of lime juice (to taste) 

First, if you haven’t already boiled the pasta, do it!

Start off the soup by adding the broth to your big soup-makin’ wok or whatever you have. Add the miso and Bragg’s/soy sauce, then cut it with the water to get the saltiness right. Add most of the ginger, chili paste and sweet thing. Stir it around to get it nice and tasty (two or three or four minutes), then add the mushrooms. Let it simmer for about 2 or 3 minutes, then add the cooked pasta. Let simmer for another 5 minutes or so - try the mushrooms to make sure they are ridiculously tasty. They will be very mushroomy. Spray liberally with lime juice and add the last of the ginger for a funky fresh taste.

Get some chopsticks to pull out the noodles and pour some of the broth into the bowl. This would be good with some cubed tofu and minced scallions and crushed peanuts, but my main goal here was a delicious spiciness delivery system, and it worked.

This definitely makes enough to serve two people, but I’m sick and I’m cranky and I want more spicy food, so I’m probably going to go back for more right about now.

- Sean

Radish chips, buttery beets, spiced greens and polenta

Not so much “chips” as “somewhat roasted,” these little discs were fantastic. Just slice them thin (a mandolin makes that easier), toss them in oil, salt and pepper (any any herbs you’d might like) and roast them for around 10-15 minutes at around 400. 

Served with some cooked tatsoi, (vegan) butter-braised beets and home-made soft polenta (not eggs, though that’s how they look in the pictures.

It was a good autumnal treat.

What to do with green tomatoes - From Doug

Thanks, Doug, for the ideas!

In Bogotá, Colombia, where I lived a long time ago, there were fast food chicken spit roasting places all over (Coco Rico etc). They had awesome crispy succulent little chickens of course, but they served them with two even better sides:

Little potatoes like the ones in this week’s box boiled and then dipped in a bowl of saturated salt solution so when you pull them out the salt crystallizes all over the skin of the potato like a crunchy spiderweb…

and green tomato relish/salad:
Hard crispy green tomato and about half as much harsh white onion diced into roughly 1/2 cm cubes, salt, lemon or lime juice, lots of strong fresh chopped cilantro, and a few thin rings of Ají peppers (tiny 1 cm chilies like a concentrated Thai pepper). There isn’t much spicy food in the Colombian diet but this sauce is one good example.  Let it sit for 15 minutes and all the harsh bitter spicy flavors have melded into something wonderfully refreshing, especially with a nice piece of chicken…  It looks like chunks of vegetable in a little water when it’s finished. Too harsh? Add more lemon and salt.

You can also stir fry green tomatoes like bitter melon with Chinese fermented black beans, chili, soy, ginger and garlic, sometimes a little stock or thickening cornstarch, or make a curry as with karela (the prickly bitter melon).

And then there are kosher pickled green tomatoes (go easy on the vinegar if you use it)…

Got to go make dinner; I’m hungry.

Dried hot peppers

If you’re still looking to use those hot peppers, dehydrating them is the best way to make them last all winter. Turn your oven to its lowest possible setting, and place the peppers across the racks (as opposed to on a pan) for 4-8 hours. You can even turn the oven off, and the trapped heat will still help speed the process along. They may need to remain in there for a couple of days to get fully dehydrated - you can tell they’re done when they’re totally hollow.