Don’t be deceived. I did not make this soup with tiny mushrooms. Rather, I made but a tiny amount of soup.
“Tiny Mushroom Soup” is my new strategy for making something worthwhile with what remains of my dried wild mushroom bounty from the last two summers. That way, if the soup comes out awful, I haven’t wasted a gallon of mushrooms in the process.
Truth be told, I don’t know much about mushroom cookery. It has taken some serious experimentation to get where I am now, which isn’t very far, and more often than not I find myself completely baffled by icky, gooey mushroom sauces and omelets that are so mushroomy weird that Gregg has to eat them because I’ll hurl if I attempt another bite.
Still, it appears luck was on my side tonight, because this soup came together naturally and turned out to be a hit in our house, the cause of repeated, emphatic utterances of “Mmm!” by the one-day hubbie.
Thai-style Sarcodon soup
Ingredients
Handful of broken up, dried hawks wings (Sarcodon imbricatus or related edible)
½ small onion, sliced thin into half-moons
1 tbsp green seaweed flakes
1 tbsp fish sauce
A couple slices of lime
1 cup thin rice noodles, precooked
Wild onion (or green onion), freshly diced or dried & shredded
Drops of chili oil to desired spiciness
More water as needed
Instructions
Reconstitute mushrooms in a saucepan by pouring 2 cups of boiling water over them, covering, and letting stand for 20 minutes or so. Turn heat to low and add: onions, seaweed flakes, fish sauce, squeezed lime, rice noodles, wild onion or green onion, chili oil, and hot water as needed. Simmer together for a while and then serve.
Excellent-looking soup, my friend. You know I enjoy the hawk’s wings. I can’t remember if we’ve discussed this, but have you ever had tummy issues from more mature hawk’s wings? I’ve not, although they are usually abundant enough that I’m able to select only the young ones.
Hi B, I know Vera Stucky Evenson warns of the possibility in her book, but I have not had tummy issues with hawk wings to date. My last batch came from a jar I labeled “mature fruiting bodies” but there were no issues. This batch was of younger mushrooms. We did eat a lot, and had no problems. Time will tell I guess.