Mushroom Soup (Vegan/Vegetarian)

I make this once every few months. It takes about a million hours to prepare but it’s worth every single minute.

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You’ll need:

• Two tubs mixed mushrooms (about 1 kilo): 1 tub (500g) white button, 1 tub (500g) mixture of whatever looks fresh or good at the supermarket, especially exotics like porcini and shiitake
• 1 stalk fresh rosemary, leaves only
• 1/3 cup shallots
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup light cream (in the U.S. it’s called half-and-half)
• Pinch white pepper
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• Cheesecloth
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock
• White wine to taste

Please note: ingredients are approximations. Adjust at every step of the way to taste.

1) Finely mince shallots or blend. Sauté over a very low heat until caramelized with olive oil (and butter if you like), 30-45 minutes. Turn heat up to medium high and brown the shallots until deep golden brown bits appear, about 10 minutes. Take off heat whilst you prepare the mushrooms.

2) Reserve a few exotic mushrooms. Finely mince remaining mushrooms or blend. Place minced/blended mushrooms in cheesecloth and squeeze to remove all liquid, which will be a reddish colour. The mushrooms will reduce greatly in size and stick together. Put the mushroom solids in pan with shallots. Add thyme, salt and rosemary, and saute over a low heat until very dark but not burnt, 1-2 hours (give or take). You may need to add more olive oil or butter to prevent sticking. Deglaze with splashes of white wine, but be careful not to use too much, as the soup’s flavour is easily overwhelmed with wine.

3) You should end up with a very tasty mushroom paste. (You can also use this paste on toast with cream cheese or mix with sour cream over pasta.) To make soup, add stock and simmer for 5 minutes.

4) Thinly slice reserved exotic mushrooms and shallow fry in olive oil and a little salt until tasty and brown. Mix into soup. Mix light cream with white pepper, then swirl with soup at serving.

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All of my recipes are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.