Oh my! This mushroom soup is absolutely delicious! I stand by this statement - it is every bit as good as any mushroom soup I have ever had served to me in a restaurant - just wow! Oh and! It's vegan. Don't be afraid of this word....it just means there is no dairy in it! How did I get it so creamy? A high powered blender and some cashews! Now I did use some very gorgeous and fresh oysters mushrooms that I got from my mushroom guy at the farmer's market yesterday ....yes, I have a mushroom guy! His mushrooms have kinda ruined me from most of the store bought mushrooms. They are just so fresh and flavorful! If you have the chance to get some local wood oysters mushrooms for this recipe then please do so - it is worth it! I didn't take a photo of the ones I used in this - but I do have a photo from a past mushroom haul (see below) - they are so pretty that sometimes I don't want to cut them! Also, I have bought packs of wild mushroom mixes at Whole Foods before and they are pretty good too. I would use any of these or a mix - oyster, cremini and shiitake, if you can find them.
I served this with a big green salad and fresh sourdough bread that I also bought at the farmer's market.
Enjoy!
*This recipe makes enough for two dinner-sized bowls of soup or 4 smaller cups of soup.
Ingredients:
I large yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbl olive oil
16 oz high quality mushrooms, I prefer wood oysters, but a mix of oysters, cremini and shiitake will do, stems removed and roughly chopped
1 Tbl aged sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar + 1/4 cup water or broth
4 cups of broth (I use Better than Bouillon vegetable base)
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 cup cashews, raw and unsalted
1 Tbl white miso paste
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
salt & pepper, to taste
Directions:
As always, I water sauté my onions. Put about 1/4 cup of water into a large soup pan over low heat. Add diced onion and sauté for 12 minutes to get the onion soft. If the water dries out as it's cooking add a little more, a tablespoon at a time. Add chopped garlic to the onion and a little more water, if needed, and saute another 3 -5 minutes, make sure the garlic doesn't burn. Scoop out the onion and garlic mixture and put it in a little dish while you sauté the mushrooms. Make sure all the water in the pot has cooked off. Add one or two tablespoons of olive oil to the soup pot and add the roughly chopped mushrooms. Give a little stir and add a pinch of salt. Let them cook for about 5 or 6 minutes undisturbed. Give them a good stir. Let them cook another minute or so.
At this point the mushrooms will start to stick a little to the pan. Pour in the vinegar and 1/4 cup of water to deglaze the pan, loosening up all the brown bits. Stir well and add back in the onion and garlic mixture. Add the broth to the pan and about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme. Please don't omit the fresh thyme - it brings so much flavor to this soup! Let it come to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Okay so while your soup is simmering, grab your high power blender, I have a Vitamix. If your blender isn't super strong then you can soak the cashews in really hot water for an hour or two to soften them. Place 1/2 cup of cashews, 1 Tbl white miso paste and 1/2 tsp of dijon in the blender. Add half of your soup to the blender- but NOT the thyme sprigs- leave them in or discard the stems (the little leaves will have fallen off into the soup). The soup is going to be very hot, so make sure your blender's hole at the top is open a bit (covered with a clean kitchen towel) to let the steam escape while it blends. After it is nice and creamy, add that back to the rest of the soup. If you feel like the soup is too thick, feel free to add another cup or so to the pot. I did! And now you can carefully taste it and see if it needs a little more salt and pepper.
Serve with fresh crusty bread and a beautiful side salad. Enjoy!
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