Shiitake Mushroom Soup With Pancetta-Rice Dumplings

From Katherine August, with Brad Newman

I first met Katherine August 16-odd years ago, when she opened a low-key restaurant called Twilight at Division and Wolcott — then still a relative dining desert, at least if you were looking for something beyond barbecue and burritos — and I have fond memories of many BYOB meals in the cozy storefront space. Twilight only lasted a few years (the address was later home to Renegade Handmade, which itself closed last year), and August went on to restaurant gigs around the city, before landing at the U. of C. as its corporate events chef. She got in touch last month to see about making soup, and we were floored by the pot she turned up with, made with help from Brad Newman, executive chef at the university’s exclusive Quadrangle Club. This smoky, delicious concoction was inspired, August said, by childhood memories of the mushroom soup that’s a Lithuanian tradition at Easter — though, as she pointed out, observant Lithuanians would have skipped the pancetta for Lent.

Ingredients

Soup
3 carrots, peeled and small dice
4 ribs celery, small dice
1 piece celery root (celeriac), peeled and small dice
1 yellow onion, small dice
6 ounces dried porcini mushrooms–can be found at Italian specialty markets or Polish markets. Dried shiitake can also be used.
3 quarts water
¼ teaspoon ground allspice and juniper berries
salt
black pepper

Dumplings
2 cups cooked jasmine or other fluffy white rice
3 whole eggs
½ cup diced pancetta, or bacon diced and crisped in sauté pan
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

For soup
Sauté all vegetables in heavy bottomed Dutch oven or stock pot over low heat. While cooking, soak dried mushrooms in 1 quart hot water for 15 minutes, drain, reserve liquid, and chop mushrooms finely.

When all vegetables are soft and slightly carmelized add water and reserved mushroom liquid; vegetable, chicken, or beef stock could also be used. Add allspice and juniper berries and simmer for 45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

For dumplings
Mix all ingredients together, taste and adjust salt.  Form dough into ½-inch dumplings and steam for 5 minutes or bake on cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Add to hot soup.

For extra richness mix 2 teaspoons finely chopped dill to sour cream or crème fraiche and add a dollop to bowl of hot soup!