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| The finished product- tasty and nutritious! |
I went to make a salad for lunch today, but sadly I was all out of spinach (noooooo!). Time to be creative! Fortunately I had lots of other veggies in the fridge including a pack of mushrooms. Did you know mushrooms are incredibly nutritious? (Click this link if you want to read more about their wonders) So instead of salad, I made a quick and tasty mushroom soup. Here's the recipe!
Ingredients
400g mushrooms
1 tsp minced or 1 clove of fresh garlic
2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
Handful fresh or a few tsps dried herbs of your choice (I used rosemary and thyme)
Shallots or onion or leek
Some milk or yoghurt to serve
Small amount of butter or olive oil
Start by chopping the white parts of your shallots (or onion or leek) and sautéing in a heavy based saucepan with garlic and a little butter or olive oil. Olive oil has more proven heart benefits, but I prefer the taste of butter for these things but the choice is yours - only make sure you just use a little bit or your soup will be oily. Use 1 tsp minced garlic if you're using a jar, or finally chop a clove of fresh garlic you have it.
While the onion and garlic is cooking, chop up around 400-500g mushrooms. It seems like a lot but they disappear when they cook. Any mushrooms will do, the darker the mushrooms the stronger the flavour. I had small white button mushrooms in my fridge today so that's what I used!
Slice them relatively finely to aid cooking but don't be too precise, they will all be blended eventually so don't need to be pretty.
Pop the mushrooms in with the onion and garlic and stir for a few minutes until they start to cook and soak up the little bit of oil in the pan. Add your stock, herbs and some ground black pepper and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes. I used some fresh rosemary and dried thyme, but parsley, basil, oregano or chives would all work beautifully.
While this is cooking you may choose to make some tasty topping for your soup. I had half a rasher of bacon in the fridge leftover from another meal so decided to use it up along with the green tops of the shallots. You could also chop some fresh herbs or use croutons or flaked almonds - whatever you feel like. I chopped the fat and rind off the bacon (and fed it to my happy dogs) and diced what was left and popped it in a hot pan with the shallots. As I cook with a well seasoned cast iron frypan, I didn't need any extra fat or oil ..... depending on your pan you may need a little. I also tore off some fresh parsley leaves.
Once the mushrooms are looking brown and soft, take the soup off the heat and zap with a stick mixer or put it in your blender. Make it as smooth or lumpy as you wish. You can eat it as is if you like more watery soup or add some milk or yoghurt to make it taste creamier and more filling. I found two tablespoons of Greek yoghurt stirred through gave it a lovely finish.
Serve immediately with your choice of toppings!
It's cheap, tasty, nutritious, takes about 15 minutes and serves 4.
Note: once you add the yoghurt or milk this is probably not ideal to freeze, but should keep nicely in the fridge for a day or so.
Enjoy!!
Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy
