Thrilled with the results of this home made mushroom soup without a speck of cream.
Sometime recently I ordered mushroom soup at a restaurant, and expected it to be a nice little cup with mushrooms swimming in it AND in a creamy broth. Nope. It had no cream in it, and wow, was it good. So I promised myself I’d try to replicate it at home. Couldn’t be that hard, right? I found several recipes, but settled on one from the New York Times, that actually was a pureed soup. That I didn’t want, but I stuck with their recipe for the most part.
The secret to making this is layering lots of flavors – all things complementary to soup, of course. Like shallots, leeks, onions. I bought crimini mushrooms, regular button mushrooms, plus some shiitake. And to help with layering, I used some dried mushrooms. Once I found them at my local market, I had a several choices. Mostly they contained oyster mushrooms and chanterelle. Those were fine – they’re in a tiny little clamshell box. They got soaked in hot water for 30 minutes before I began. Most recipes tell you to use the soaking liquid, but on this little box from Melissa’s Produce, it said NOT to use the water, so I discarded it. Sometimes that mushroom water can taste a little off.
What I have in my refrigerator is a plastic one-pound tub of mushroom concentrate (broth, like chicken broth concentrate). And oh, was it perfect for this. If you can find it in your stores, please use it. Mine is from “Custom Culinary” in Oswego IL. Here’s the link at Amazon for it: Custom Culinary Gold Label Vegan Mushroom Base, 1 Pound
Chopping up all the fresh mushrooms took awhile, but the 3 different kinds added different texture. One little surprise ingredient is a jot of soy sauce, and I just KNOW it added great flavor. You don’t taste it – there’s not enough in there to do that, but it’s good umami flavor. I simmered the soup for about 45 minutes, cooled it and packaged it up for freezing and left one container for eating. As of tonight, I’ve had it for 3 meals. I just LOVE the flavor of it – love the leeks, the broth, and the tooth of the mushrooms themselves. The original called for a Parmesan rind, but I didn’t bother, although I do have one in my refrigerator. For me, this soup doesn’t need cheese! But a nice piece of toast with some melted Parm on top would be a great little topper for this soup. And, of course, you could drizzle in a little bit of sour cream or cream if you wanted to. I’m amazed at the calorie count (low, really low).
What’s GOOD: for sure the super-over-the-top mushroom flavor. Might be from the mushroom base – don’t know for sure. Love the meatiness of the mushrooms and there were lots in this soup. Freezes well. A keeper.
What’s NOT: you’ll likely have to go shopping for some of the ingredients (leeks, maybe shallots, and the mushroom base, the dried mushrooms and maybe all the varieties of fresh mushrooms too).
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 file (click link to open recipe)
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Mushroom Soup without Cream
Recipe By: Adapted from a New York Times recipe
Serving Size: 6
1/2 ounce dried mushrooms — prefer porcini, or a mixture of dried mushroom types
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion — chopped
2 medium shallots — peeled, chopped
1 large leek — white and light green part only, sliced lengthwise, then chopped, rinsed well
Salt to taste
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms — (white and cremini) sliced
4 ounces shiitake mushroom — stems discarded, sliced
5 cups low sodium chicken broth — or mushroom stock or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried thyme — crushed between your palms
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry — to taste (optional) (1 to 2)
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup Italian parsley — chopped (garnish)
NOTE: I use Custom Culinary Mushroom Base – for the recipe to serve 6 I used a heaping tablespoon (plus the water, of course) in lieu of the low sodium chicken broth. It’s available from Amazon.
1. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl or pyrex measuring cup and cover with 1 cup boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms and discard the water. (Some chefs use the hydrating water, but most dried mushroom packages recommend discarding the water as it often has “off” flavors.) Chop up the rehydrated mushrooms in small pieces and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add the onion, shallots and leek and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender and, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not brown. Add fresh and reconstituted mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they begin to sweat and smell fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the broth, bay leaf, thyme, soy sauce and salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
4. If desired, you may blend the soup until smooth. Taste and adjust salt, and add pepper and the sherry, if using. Add the extra half cup of stock and heat through, stirring. If the soup seems too thick, thin out a little more but remember to taste and adjust seasoning. Serve in espresso cups or in bowls, garnishing each serving with chopped Italian parsley.
Per Serving: 215 Calories; 7g Fat (26.7% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 28g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 792mg Sodium.
Toffeeapple
said on December 13th, 2017:
I never use cream in anything, to me it will always mask the flavour of whatever you put it on, I hate the stuff. I do love a good mushroom soup though and this one looks good but I would be unable to buy the mushroom base that you have so would rely on a mushroom ketchup.
Does mushroom ketchup have a lot of tomato product in it? If so I probably wouldn’t try it. Just use more mushrooms, I guess! . . . carolyn t
Toffeeapple
said on December 15th, 2017:
No there are no tomatoes in a mushroom ketchup here is a recipe: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/mushroom-ketchup-recipe
It is an intensley umami flavoured sauce.
That recipe sounds very interesting, though kind of brown-ugly. It probably tastes good though. . . carolyn
hddonna
said on December 15th, 2017:
Carolyn, when I read this the other day, I had to immediately go to Amazon and order some of that mushroom base! Then I came back and wrote a long comment. Apparently I never clicked on “submit”, because when I came back yesterday, there was no sign of it, even awaiting moderation. This soup sounds fabulous! Can’t wait to try it. I would think the base would be handy to have around for a lot of uses.
No, I don’t think I did receive a comment from you about it. But you have now. You’ll love this soup – I want to make it again really soon. And yes, the soup base is useful for many other things – soups of other types and stew type things. I do hope you enjoy it. Let me know . . . carolyn t
hddonna
said on February 1st, 2018:
Well, I finally got to the international market where I could buy loads of mushrooms of various types, and I made your soup last week. It was marvelous. The first day, I served it as you show in the post and we enjoyed it that way. The second day, I pureed it until very smooth. The next day, I pureed some and added a little cream (I do love cream; I don’t care if they say it blunts the flavors, I like the flavor of the cream itself and think it blends very well with mushrooms.) The fourth time I served it chunky again and drizzled a little cream in to garnish. I loved it in all its iterations. And there was enough left for two or three servings, so I froze that for another day. It was a big investment in mushrooms, but they certainly go a long way!
I’m so glad you liked it. I may have to make it again soon – I think actually I have one ziploc bag of it in my freezer, so maybe I’ll have that one day soon. . . carolyn t
hddonna
said on February 1st, 2018:
Oh–and I think the mushroom base is excellent. I’ve used it several times to boost the mushroom flavor in various dishes.
Yes, I agree – it’s really good and worth the $$ to buy it. . . carolyn t