There are a couple of secret ingredients in this soup that help to make this soup an over-the-top version. First – a tiny little glug of soy sauce. Second – a little amount of dried porcini mushrooms that are ground up to a powder. Who’d think those two things could make such a difference?
When I made this about a week ago, I was recovering from a cold, and some good, hot vegetable soup sounded so restorative to me. And I had about a quart of turkey stock in the refrigerator, leftover from Thanksgiving. It needed to be used, or else frozen. Then I read my most recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated (the Nov/Dec 2011 issue) and there was a long article about vegetable soups. I read it from beginning to end. In it, the author labored long and hard over how to enhance a vegetable soup. He added this and that. He discarded a number of sample batches. But he finally determined that adding in a hint of soy sauce just gave the soup that umami taste we’re all looking for. And the same with the porcini mushroom powder. I’ll have to remember that idea because you could easily add some of that to almost any soup.
So, for this big batch of soup that serves at least 6-8 for a dinner meal, you add just two teaspoons of soy sauce and also 2 teaspoons of porcini mushroom powder (you make this yourself in your spice grinder). That’s not much – but I assure you, it makes a difference. The recipe also has you make a little compound butter (butter, lemon zest, fresh thyme and a tiny bit of lemon juice) which you can spoon onto the top of the soup when it’s served. The butter is hard to see it in my photo at top – it’s just to left and slightly below the center of the soup bowl. And to tell you the honest truth, I couldn’t taste the butter, but there’s only 2 T. of butter used to sweat the veggies at the beginning – that’s it. A very low fat soup! I also added some shiitake mushrooms to this soup. Those weren’t in the original recipe, but I had them on hand and they needed to be used up. Other than that one thing, the recipe below is made exactly to the Cook’s Illustrated one. The soup has a lot of carbs in it – potatoes, turnips, carrots, barley (I used farro because that’s what I had on hand) and peas.
What I liked: doesn’t it always end up being about the taste? It does for me. As I write this, we enjoyed this soup just last night but this won’t post until next week sometime. But I can’t wait to have it again. Fortunately there’s a lot of it. I may freeze one bag and eat the other one sooner rather than later. I may add some green veggies to it next time (like some sugar snaps, maybe green beans just at the end). I like a veggie-laden soup and this one is more carb-laden. Serve this with some bread, or maybe a toasted cheese sandwich. Delish.
What I didn’t like: well . . .when I make it again I’ll reduce the amount of soy sauce by just a little bit. I could taste it. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think I should be able to taste it! A great soup, though and worth making. It does take some time doing all the sous-chef thing with chopping, peeling, etc. Be prepared to spend at least an hour overseeing the cooking of it. If you have a kitchen helper, enlist the help to peel and chop!
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Farmhouse Vegetable Soup
Recipe By: Adapted slightly from Cook’s Illustrated, Nov./Dec. 2011
Serving Size: 6-8
1/8 ounce dried mushroom — porcini type
8 sprigs Italian parsley — 3 T. of it chopped, remainder whole
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 whole bay leaf
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds leeks — green parts removed, sliced lengthwise, coarsely chopped
2 whole carrots — peeled, cut in 1/2 inch coins
2 whole celery ribs — cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 cups water
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth — [I used turkey broth] or vegetable broth
1/2 cup pearl barley — [I used farro]
1 clove garlic — peeled and smashed
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potato — peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (or smaller)
1 whole turnip — peeled, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups cabbage — chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup shiitake mushrooms — sliced [my addition – not in the original recipe]
LEMON-THYME BUTTER:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter — softened
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon lemon zest — freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch salt
1. Grind porcini mushroom pieces in a spice grinder until they resemble fine meal, 10-30 seconds. Measure out 2 teaspoons of the powder and reserve remainder for another use. Using kitchen twine, tie together the parsley sprigs, thyme and bay leaf.
2. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks, carrots, celery, wine, soy sauce and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and celery is softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Add water, broth, barley, porcini powder, herb bundle and garlic. Increase heat to high and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 25 minutes.
4. Add potatoes, turnip and cabbage; return to simmer and cook until barley, potatoes, turnip and cabbage are tender, about 18-20 minutes.
5. Remove pot from heat and remove herb bundle. Stir in pease, fresh lemon juice and chopped parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing Lemon-Thyme Butter separately.
6. LEMON-THYME BUTTER: Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Per Serving: 408 Calories; 14g Fat (28.0% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 65g Carbohydrate; 11g Dietary Fiber; 31mg Cholesterol; 230mg Sodium.
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