A fragrant bowl of wild rice

Digging around in the pantry these last few weeks has been quite enjoyable. A jar of wild rice – long sleek grains of black and chocolate brown – and a packet of dried porcini were unearthed this weekend. Soup season may have dug its heels firmly in this week, but I’m nowhere near done with it. Not while the celeriac looks this good, anyway.

Clean is Deborah Madison’s typically spare description of this soup and she is, typically, spot on. Clean, as a descriptor, may not seal the deal on recipes ordinarily, but by this stage of winter I find myself longing for something lighter. There’s been a lot of stodge eaten in these parts of late. So this beautiful and yes, clean, balance of warm, wintry earthiness and toothsome, lightly-cooked vegetables seemed to say all the right things. A cloudy, fragrant stock from simmering wild rice and dried mushrooms together; a little soothing creaminess stirred through at the last moment and I served it with a little saucer of amber sesame oil to dribble, at will, across the surface.

The recipe below is the result of gleaning a little from each of Deborah Madison’s wild rice chowders, some streamlining from experience and a small bottle of organic, unhomogenised cream from Tasmania. I must say, I quite like the photos for this one. They say, to me, exactly what I wanted them to. Fresh, clean, healthy. With cream.

It is excellent. A timely reminder that spring, and change, are not too far away.

A wild rice and celeriac soup – feeds 4
Wild rice smells intoxicatingly good as it cooks. Too often that scent is lost in and amongst other grains. Not here. Here, it is star. Attention paid to the quality and flavour of your soy milk will make all the difference if cream is not your thing. Adapted, heavily, from Deborah Madison.

3 handfuls of wild rice (about ¾ cup)
1 handful of dried mushrooms (porcini, shiitake, etc)
Toasted sesame oil
6 cups of water
Sea salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil (or a mixture of butter and oil)
1 large bundle of spring onions
1 bunch of parsley
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 fist-sized potato, scrubbed well
1 small celeriac
1 bay leaf
A few healthy sprigs of thyme
½ cup soy milk or thin cream
Pepper

Place the wild rice in a saucepan, add the mushrooms, a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and the water. Bring to a boil, add ½ a teaspoon of sea salt and reduce the heat to a burble. Set a lid, slightly ajar, on top and simmer for 40 minutes. When ready – the grains will butterfly open, bursting from their skins – set a strainer over a large bowl to collect the rice stock and drain. Set both stock and rice aside separately.

Warm the olive oil in a wide saucepan over a gentle heat. Trim the spring onions and chop finely. Slice the parsley leaves from their stalks, reserving the leaves. Finely chop the stalks. Add the spring onions and parsley stalks to the saucepan and cook while you chop the remaining veg. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Cut the carrots into thick slices and then into large irregular shapes. Trim and slice the celery stalks. Cut the potato into large dice then thickly peel the celeriac and cut it too into large dice. Add the vegetables to the saucepan, up the heat and fry for about 3 minutes. Throw in the bay leaf and thyme and pour in the reserved rice stock along with another cup, perhaps a little more, of water. Bring to a boil, add 1½ teaspoons of salt then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Chop the remaining parsley leaves. Add the soy milk or cream to the soup, remove the bay leaf and tip in the rice and mushrooms and most of the parsley leaves. Warm through and serve in deep bowls, each garnished with a little parsley, lots of pepper and a few droplets of toasted sesame oil to round things off nicely.

Stalky

‘Tis the season for all things stalky.

A head of celery for a soup of adzuki beans and tiny millet and brown rice balls.

Tender rhubarb, for stewing with rosewater and ginger.

Celery

Dripping wet.

Again. Or should that be still?

Celery for croquettes made of vegetables, wild rice, quinoa and amaranth.

Celery

Pale, tender leaves of celery.

Humble veggies

In the midst of studying for an exam later this week (in fact it was in the middle of a list of the whopping 150 phytochemicals present in onions) it occurred to me that the most humble of vegetables, the ones that seem almost pedestrian in a kitchen, are in fact the ones that are full of the most promise. They might need a little bit of coaxing with other flavours or a completely different approach to make them delicious in their own right, but that is exactly what makes the wait so worthwhile. They are the ones that can elicit the most surprising comments and complements. Take celery for example. How many times have I bought a whole or half bunch just to use one, maybe two stalks and left the rest to waste away in the fridge? Okay, so you can juice the remainder, something we do often as celery is a fantastic cleanser for the kidneys, but that seems kind of lazy.

So, armed with a huge bunch of the most luscious organic celery and a determination not to let it rot away this time, I set out to cook as many things as possible. I often feel sorry for the Artist as he does have to put up with endless dishes on a theme at times (a few weeks ago it was lentils every night...) but this was easier to take. The braised celery is unbelievably good – I’m not kidding you, it is utterly delicious.

Braised celery - serves 2 with a bit left over

Braising is a simple method of cooking celery that highlights its delicate flavour but is by no means plain - in fact it renders this vegetable utterly delicious with its buttery juices. The perfect accompaniment would be thin pan-fried white fish fillets with a squeeze of lemon juice, preferably King Whiting as they are not only beautiful but according to the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s guide to sustainable seafood they are a species that is a good choice for conscientious consumers. If fish ain’t your thing then serve the celery with some garlicky, well-flavoured green (French or Puy) lentils and plain steamed basmati rice.

30g butter or 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 whole bunch of celery, trimmed of its leaves and cut into 10 cm lengths

1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly

3 semi-dried tomatoes, finely sliced

2 cups of vegetable stock, made with a cube, maybe more (see below)

2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped or a drop or two of soy sauce

Heat the butter or oil in a frying pan in which the celery will fit cosily in one layer. Add the celery, the garlic and the semi-dried tomatoes and fry, moving around occasionally, until the celery has caught on the bottom of the pan in places, turning an attractive golden mottled colour. Almost cover with stock- you might need to add a little more than suggested above according to the size and shape of your pan - and cook at a simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the celery is tender. Top up with water from time to time if the celery seems to be taking a while to get to that stage. Increase the heat, throw in the anchovies or dash of soy sauce and reduce until the celery coated in a small amount of sticky sauce. Serve hot.

Celery leaf soup – serves 4

Stuck for what to do with the left over leaves that you’ve trimmed? Don’t throw them away - I saw Maggie Beer on the telly the other day put them into a winter salad of roasted vegetables and chickpeas, dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar that looked fantastic. Or you could make this soup. Just make sure that you use organic celery as pesticides tend to lurk in the leaves...

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

Leaves from 1 bunch of celery, well washed

1 litre of vegetable stock (good stock cube is fine)

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sized potato, scrubbed clean and chopped into 2cm dice

2-3 tablespoons of organic cream (optional)

Sea salt and pepper

6-8 slices of sourdough bread, toasted

1 cup of grated Gruyere or cheddar cheese

Heat the garlic, celery leaves stock and diced potato together in a large heavy based saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Lower heat, cover and add the oil. Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. When ready, blend until smooth and return to the pot with the cream if you are using it. Season to taste and gently re-heat. Top each piece of bread with a little cheese and grill until bubbling. Serve with the hot soup.