Mushroom Soup with Truffle Cream

Friday when I went to Costco I bought yet another container of the gourmet dried mushroom mix. I always think I need another container, just in case. When I got home there were three in the pantry. Okay, I love mushrooms but that was a little excessive even for me. I knew I wanted to make something with mushrooms soon and since the weather was cool I decided to make mushroom soup tonight.

This soup does take a little bit of time, but most of that is inactive time. Like all soups this one really doesn’t take much work. I used raw cashews to make the “cream soup base” and also used them in the truffle cream. Here is the soup I made tonight as part of dinner.

Mushroom Soup
Serves 4

Soup Ingredients:

4 cups dried mixed mushrooms
8 cups of water to soak mushrooms
1 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ cup water
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely minced
½ cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 4 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and soaking water in a microwave safe vessel. Heat until the water is hot (this took 4 minutes in my microwave). Allow the mushrooms to sit in the hot water and rehydrate. The mushrooms should be soft in 30 minutes.

While the mushrooms are soaking water sauté the onion in the ½ cup of water. When the onion is soft put the onion and cooking water in your blender and puree until smooth. Return this liquid to a medium large pot and add the carrots and celery.

Strain the mushrooms from their soaking liquid using a fine sieve lined with three layers of cheesecloth or a layer of paper towel. Place the drained mushrooms on your cutting board and give them a rough chop. You want them to be small enough to fit on a soupspoon.

Place one cup of the mushroom liquid in your blender. Add the raw cashews to the blender and puree until completely smooth. Pour this mixture into the stockpot with the veg. Use the remaining mushroom stock to clean out the blender and return it all to the stockpot.

Cook the mushroom soup until you are ready to serve. Just before serving dissolve the cornstarch in water and stir it into the simmering soup. Cook for a few minutes to thicken the soup and cook out the raw cornstarch taste. Check the soup for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as desired.

Top each serving of soup with a dollop of truffle cream.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories -155.28
Calories From Fat (30%) - 46.17

Total Fat - 5.52g
Saturated Fat - 0.99g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 65.86mg
Potassium -533.5mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.32g
Fiber - 4.07g
Sugar -4.64g
Protein - 4.4g

If you are fond of either thyme or rosemary a little bit of either one would be good in this soup. Don't add more than 1/2 teaspoon or it will become too dominant and overwhelm the mushroom flavor of the soup.

Truffle Cream
makes 28 tablespoons

Ingredients:

12.3 ounces organic silken tofu, firm
½ lemon, juiced
1 pinch salt, to taste
¼ cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon truffle oil

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth. You will need to scrape the side of the bowl a few minutes to ensure the all the raw cashews get completely pulverized.

Refrigerate the truffle cream until needed. It will thicken when it is completely chilled.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 16.94
Calories From Fat (62%) - 10.43

Total Fat - 1.19g
Saturated Fat - 0.18g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 14.99mg
Potassium - 31.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.65g
Fiber - 0.04g
Sugar - 0.23g
Protein - 1.02g

Comments:

This was an excellent soup. It may be my favorite mushroom soup so far. I think the truffle cream really took it over the top. If you are a fan of truffles, you should give this soup a try.

Each serving of the soup (without the truffle cream) contains more than 6,800IU of vitamin A, and 9mcg of selenium.

I served this soup tonight with seitan paillards topped with tropical salsa and millet on the side. I am running a little behind posting tonight. I will try to get the paillards and salsa posted this evening but I think the hubby wants to watch a movie tonight so those recipes may not get posted until tomorrow.