Been awhile since I posted recipes here – mostly as I was experimenting and the results were less then stellar. But I had another out-of-the park experience by fusing a few recipes together: Meaty Mushroom Bisque.
I saw a mushroom soup recipe, but don’t like things loaded with salty vegetable broth, and as I had a portobella recpie that made mushrooms taste meaty, and found a potato made things creamy (without using fatty cream), I kitbashed the first recipe, the second recipe, and a veggie broth herb mix substitute I’ve been trying (basically oregano, basil, sage, dill, thyme, marjoram, garlic, and onion make a good broth substitute)
- 2 Tbsp Spread/Butter substitute
- 1 large white onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp crushed garlic
- 1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, mixed
- 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp dried basil
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 large potato, sliced
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp dill weed
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1/4 tsp ground marjoram
- Saute onions in butter/spread until they soften and brown a bit (5-7 min)
- Add garlic, mushrooms, balsamic vinegar, basil, oregano, and soy sauce. Saute until the mushrooms soften. This is usually 3-5 minutes.
- Add all else, stir.
- Lower heat and bring to a simmer. Cover. Stir every few minutes.
- When everything is softened (about 20-30 minutes). Remove from heat.
- Let cool, somewhat, then puree in blender or with immersion blender.
- Reheat. Serve.
Makes 4 large main-course servings or 6-8 side servings.
This came out good right off the bat. It’s meaty, hearty, not overly bulky, low in sodium and fat, and hey, mushrooms! This would be a good winter soup, and would probably go nice with bread, tomatoes, or some nice crunchy vegetables. Probably wouldn’t go well with wine due to wine and vinegar in it, but might go nice with a light beer.
If anything it may need a minor tweak or too to really round out the flavor – I’m thinking a tablespoon of maple syrup (maple syrup, thyme, soy sauce, and 5 spice powder can create a decent fake sausage taste), or something else. But it already stands on its own.
This makes a decent protein-centric dish – a large serving has about 9 grams of protein, so paired with some other protein-filled vegetable (spinach, corn, broccoli) you’ve got a good meal. However you’d want to pair it right.
As a side dish this would go great with beef or lamb.
The reason I did this, by the way, as well as my last soup experiment, is I want to get away from Tofu. I only eat it about twice a week, but it’s sort of an easy-protein and I wanted to broaden out using it because a few times I used it as a sort of substitute for innovating protein in my diet. The problem is that beyond tofu you’re usually going to use legumes, and let’s just say for atmospheric reasons I don’t use more than a cup a day in my diet. Thus, things like this.
So, a good result. Worth giving a shot – and if you’re a mushroom fiend, definitely so.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.