When my children were young they would never eat mushrooms … which made me very sad! But one of the wonders of growing up is that taste buds develop, and now my whole family love mushrooms … and that makes me very happy!
I chose Swiss and Portobello mushrooms for this soup (the latter is just a more mature version of the former) as I love their rich intense flavour, so if you choose field mushrooms the soup will be much darker (but still a lovely flavour), but I don’t recommend button mushrooms as they don’t have the intensity that is needed for a great winter soup.
20 to 40g packets of porcini mushrooms can be bought at local independent grocery stores (I have seen them at IGA, Supa Value, Farmer Jacks, etc.), and I have also seen them at some Asian grocery stores too. These add a delightful rich umami (to read more on umami see here ) flavour to the soup and is an important ingredient.
I always have a jar of toasted sunflower seeds and pepitas in the fridge so have used that as a garnish for the soup. They are great to have on hand for adding to salads, brekkie, etc. If you don’t have any toasted seeds ready then bake them before you bake the mushrooms (toast the seeds together) and you will have your fridge supply ready … they keep well in a glass jar and you will be pleased to have them available for a range of uses.
If you don’t have any veggie stock paste then use commercial veggie stock in place of the water.
And if you don’t wish to use red lentils then substitute sunflower seeds and/or pepitas for added protein and to bring some thickness to the soup.
I chose Swiss and Portobello mushrooms for this soup (the latter is just a more mature version of the former) as I love their rich intense flavour, so if you choose field mushrooms the soup will be much darker (but still a lovely flavour), but I don't recommend button mushrooms as they don’t have the intensity that is needed for a great winter soup.
20 to 40g packets of porcini mushrooms can be bought at local independent grocery stores (I have seen them at IGA, Supa Value, Farmer Jacks, etc.), and I have also seen them at some Asian grocery stores too. These add a delightful rich umami (to read more on umami see main post) flavour to the soup and is an important ingredient.
I always have a jar of toasted sunflower seeds and pepitas in the fridge so have used that as a garnish for the soup. They are great to have on hand for adding to salads, brekkie, etc. If you don’t have any toasted seeds ready then bake them before you bake the mushrooms (toast the seeds together) and you will have your fridge supply ready … they keep well in a glass jar and you will be pleased to have them available for a range of uses.
If you don’t have any veggie stock paste then use commercial veggie stock in place of the water.
And if you don't wish to use red lentils then substitute sunflower seeds and/or pepitas for added protein and to bring some thickness to the soup.
- 600g mushrooms (Swiss and Portobello preferred)
- 2 tbls olive oil
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 20g dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 red onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 4 to 6 fresh sprigs thyme, or 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 to 4 sprigs fresh parsley
- 50g olive oil
- 80g split red lentils
- 1.2 litre filtered water (but do not go over 2 litre mark in bowl)
- 3 tbls veggie stock paste
- 2 tsp sea salt flakes, or more to taste
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Toasted sunflower seeds and pepitas
- Sprigs of fresh thyme
- Extra virgin olive oil or truffle oil (the latter takes it to another level)
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees, fan forced, and place rack into middle of oven
- Wipe the skins of the fresh mushrooms, cut into quarters if large, or in half if small, and place onto baking tray, sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt flakes and pepper
- Bake 20 minutes then put aside while you start on the soup
- Place porcini mushrooms into TM bowl and mill 20 seconds / speed 10 (place a piece of kitchen paper under lid to stop dust escaping and getting caught in lid
- Set aside to add later, do not clean bowl
- Add onion, garlic, thyme, parsley and olive oil to TM bowl and chop 5 seconds / speed 5, scrape down bowl
- Sauté 5 minutes / Veroma / speed 1 / MC off
- Add baked mushrooms scraping the baking tray to collect all the juices and seasoning
- Add porcini dust, lentils, water (do not go over 2 litre mark) and veggie stock paste and cook 16 minutes / 100 / speed 1 (MC on)
- It is really important that the soup be silky smooth so you will be pureeing it twice for a full minute each time, checking for seasoning after the first minute
- Blend for 1 full minute, slowly taking 15 seconds to go from speed 1 to speed 6 (so you are now on 45 seconds), and then continuing slowly to speed 9 for the rest of the minute
- Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking
- Repeat blending for another full minute following the same process as before
- Serve sprinkled with toasted seeds, sprigs of fresh thyme and drizzled with either olive oil or truffle oil
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