Silky Tofu and Mushroom Soup with Garlic Pimentón Oil

Have I finally found a mushroom soup I like?

I’m currently surrounded by overflowing boxes ready to break from their weight, bins full of spices from who knows how long ago, bags of clothes that were stuffed at the last minute, and empty storage racks. 

This may sound absurd, but I had always enjoyed the process of moving in the past. It’s the time when I can pull everything out and assess it’s worth in my life. A moment to declutter, clean, and reset in a new space. While this is all still true, my current move has caused me to stray far from these feelings. For the past 2 years I have lived in a 400 sqft, 5th floor walk up in Brooklyn. It has treated me (and my now toned ass) well, besides the pain of lugging groceries, kitchen equipment, and supplies for events up and down 71 steps.

In this small space I have somehow accumulated far more than expected which has resulted in 48 hours of constant stress and anxiety as I tried to shove everything into a box before the movers got there. Luckily I’ve moved just a few blocks away into a first floor apartment with much more space. I won’t share too much now as I have my work cut out for me before this starts to resemble home. All I will say is when I first saw this apartment online, I thought it was a scam. This is truly my dream space and I feel so lucky to be here. 

Environmental shifts have always played an important role for me. I feel most able to break away from unhealthy rituals and habits and shift my perspective on certain things in my life. As I write this in my dining area, sipping a cup of coffee, I hope a new ritual is forming….

The Setup

A good amount of my cooking has recently revolved around trying to reduce the size of my 1lb bag of dried morel mushrooms. Purchased for a pop-up but never used, I’ve been trying to incorporate them in as much of my cooking as possible.

Mushroom soup has never really been for me. The texture of a soggy mushroom never compared to a lightly crisped but chewy stir-fried or sautéed mushroom. I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could change my own mind.

The Inspiration

As I scoured my internal catalog of past bites for any inspirational dishes, one quickly came to mind. Mushrooms in foil from Donburiya in Midtown.

Donburiya was introduced to me by my brother. He used to live around the corner and during my first summer in New York, he graciously let me sleep on his couch. We went to grab a bite at another Japanese restaurant a few doors down, Yakitori Totto, (frequented by Anthony Bourdain), but the wait was hitting well over an hour. So we decided to walk into Donburiya. Nestled on the ground floor of a five story building on 55th, you enter a dimly lit Izakaya. Open until 3 am, it feels like an industry spot. Bottles of sake with people’s names line the first half of the bar. I spot Keanu Reeves, unsure if it was a joke or not. 

There are two menus at Donburiya; an Americanized printed menu with classics like edamame, Donburi, curry, hot pot, and noodles, and a handwritten Japanese menu with tiny english translations under most dishes. We order a bit from both…. edamame, tempura smelts with aioli, agedashi tofu, some sashimi, and two large Sapporos to wash it all down. Still hungry, we take another look at the menu. Mushrooms in foil written in tiny handwritten english catch my eye and from sheer curiosity, I order. A few minutes later, a plate is sat in front of me with a hand-shaped foil boat and a lemon wedge. A tantalizing fragrance wafts over my brother and I. Various mushrooms appear from the steaming broth and I sip a spoonful. It’s deceptively rich….. made of butter, miso, and ponzu. My brother and I sit in silence taking turns sipping and picking out mushrooms from this foil. It was our favorite dish of the night.

The Recipe 

As this dish came back into my mind, I wanted to explore my own version. Typically I don’t like soups without body. I want something substantial enough that it could be lunch. One of my favorite Japanese dishes is Agedashi tofu; Fried tofu in a flavorful dashi with soy sauce and mirin. I love that combination of flavors and thought about what it would look like to blend a soft (silken) tofu into a dashi. This would give the soup the “creaminess” or body I desired. I used an immersion blender to incorporate the tofu to my broth. It quickly started to foam and I immediately used a slotted spoon to remove most of it. 

After a bit of research, I do think if I were to do this again I would let the blended tofu broth rest for a few minutes then strain it through a sieve. I lost a little of the texture of the tofu by skimming immediately and from referencing homemade soy milk and tofu recipes, letting the foam sit and subside on its own before straining seems to be the status quo.

The garlic pimentón oil is something I learned from my old chef Alex at Huertas. It’s a fairly simple but irresistible condiment that we’d use for shrimp. Since there isn’t a lot of fat in this soup, the addition of the oil gives the soup an added richness and kick that is addicting. 

Video and recipe below!