Jason Okundaye shares his home-cooked mushroom soup, perfect for fall.
In his acclaimed debut published earlier this year, Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain, Jason Okundaye documents a community on the margins. Through conversation, Okundaye excavated and then charted the story of a generation of elder Black British gay men, from the decriminalization of gay sex through the HIV/AIDS epidemic and beyond. He dug and dug through archives for any trace of this community and pored over the resources he could find in order to write the triumphant work of anthropology. He carries this approach with him for every writing project he takes on. Such hard work requires fuel, like this thick mushroom soup that tastes better than it looks. “It reminds me so much of home and that kind of comfort cooking when you don’t give a heck about presentation,” Okundaye shares.
Ingredients
- Chestnut mushrooms
- Onions
- Beef stock, either a cube or small fresh stock
- Butter
- Half and half cream
- Salt and black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Dice and sauté the onions in butter.
- Add the diced and washed mushrooms once the onion is sautéed. Cook both for a while.
- Add the stock, cook some more. Once cooked, put in a blender and blend slightly. You want it just slightly blended with bits in, not blended like baby food.
- Pour back into the pot, heat up, and add the cream to taste. Taste for seasoning, then add black pepper and salt.