Mushroom Soop for Rain

Lots of rain recently, so we needed soup.

Went to the Japanese grocery and got loads of delicious ingredients...

A selection of mushrooms:



Those thick-stalked ones are eringii. Meaty. The tiny ones are enoji - smaller than bean sprouts, even. There's a pile of fresh shitake in there, and the dried bunch is kikurage (wood ear mushroom), which I went on to reconstitute in water - they grew very big!

And here is a bag of sansai zenmai:



I think "sansai" means "wild", and "zenmai" is a sort of fern. I never bought these before, but they looked like they'd be good in a mushroom soup.

And here are some mystery greens that will go in at the last minute:



I saw the name of them at the store, but I have forgotten.

And here is today's prize:





Fresh burdock! I love burdock, but up 'til now have only had it as tsukemono. I asked a nice Japanese lady in the store how I should cook it and she suggested peel, slice thinly and sautée with olive oil, mirin, sake, soy sauce. I will try this next time! But this time, they're going in the soup. And I am not going to peel them because why lose the fiber and nutrients?

No moneyshot of finished soup this time because I forgot. Oops. You will have to imaginate it. Earthy and delicious.