Photo Submission for Uncle John's UBY soup

We had Uncle John's UBY soup for dinner and loved it!!!



I topped it with sauteed Mushrooms and Fresh Thyme. Delish!










For those of you who (like me) have no idea how many mushrooms you need to make 5 cups sliced - It's about 16 oz.

I used 8 oz of regular white shrooms and 8 oz of baby portabellas.




It may be ugly . . . but it's Oh, so good!

Thanks John!

Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's Stuffed Mushrooms

More mushrooms! When you find a bag of 30+ mushrooms on sale for $1 (as we did recently), you may need to make UBY soup and Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's stuffed mushrooms. Forgive the unorthodox directions and measurements. Instead of getting frustrated, consider it a new cooking experience... It's like coloring outside the lines, or modern music. Just go with it.



INGREDIENTS
• 10 large-ish mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• a bit of green onion (3-4 onions), finely chopped
• a bit of red onion, finely chopped
• (more on what constitutes "a bit" below)
• 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large pinch of oregeno
• some spinach
• some bread crumbs
• some parmesan cheese (2 tablespoons? 1/4 cup?)
• (again, more on what constitutes "some" below)
• 125 grams of cream cheese (sorry, I live in Canada! Google "125 grams" and you should get a conversion)

DIRECTIONS
• wash the mushrooms
• take out stems of mushrooms carefully, set tops aside
• finely chop stems
• add to stems chopped green onion (about 2/3 as much as stems), chopped red onion (about 1/3 as much as stems), and two chopped garlic cloves
• NOTE: we just kind of played it by ear w/ regards to the different elements of the stuffing; that's why the amounts are so non-descript. You are the chef... you are responsible here for getting desirable proportions! Remember: Anyone can cook.
• fry all of this in 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil, until garlic is starting to turn yellow (i.e., it is a little cooked; about 5-10 minutes)
• while frying, season with a big pinch of oregeno
• remove from heat, add lots of spinach (about 1/2 as much as everything else together)
• let cool somewhat
• thicken with bread crumbs (1 tablespoon?)
• add 2 tablespoons (or so) of parmesan
• add 125 grams of cream cheese
• mix it all up
• in the meantime, you should have pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees (F); you should also have put the mushroom tops topside-down in a pammed pan (not a cookie sheet... there may be some juices, so you'll want to keep them confined).
• put the stuff in the mushroom tops
• cook in the oven at 350 degrees (F) for 20 minutes
• we ate them when they were just starting to turn brown on the top in some places... some pictures we saw online had them all poofed up... probably depends on your proportions in the cream-cheese mix
• Eat. We used a fork and knife.

Uncle John's UBY (Ugly But Yummy) Soup

Too ugly to be photographed (thus I haven't posted a picture), this cream of mushroom soup is surprisingly tasty, even to those who wouldn't normally want to eat a cream of mushroom soup. Take me, for instance. I like mushrooms, particularly when sauteed on a hamburger, or quartered and fried. But I usually balk at the thought of mushroom soup. However, I could easily eat 3 bowls of my UBY (prounced "yoo-bee") soup in one sitting. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 5 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup skim milk (or half-and-half or cream)
  
• sour cream or parmesan cheese
  

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large heavy saucepan, cook mushrooms in the broth with onion and thyme until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
2. In blender or food processor, puree the mixture , leaving some chunks of vegetable in it. Set aside.
3. In the saucepan, melt the butter, whisk in the flour until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, milk and vegetable puree. Stirring constantly, bring soup to a boil and cook until thickened.
4. Sprinkle a good bit of parmesan cheese on top when serving, or a dollup of sour cream (as Bobber prefers).
5. Eat to your heart's content, with the knowledge that it's what's on the inside that counts.