Hungarian-inspired Mushroom Soup Recipe

Hungarian-inspired Mushroom Soup Recipe

I never met a mushroom I didn’t like, and I’ve had the pleasure of quite a few.  It’s what inspired me to create my Hungarian-inspired Mushroom Soup Recipe.

If you ever get the chance, take a mushroom walk with the Boston Mycological Club(or your local club). They are a perfect collection of culinary, botany and sensation-seeking enthusiasts. When I went, we found baskets full of colorful beauties, then using field guides and spore patterns (the definitive method to differentiate friend or foe from a safe-to-eat perspective), we identified, divided up and took home our bounties for happy times of all sorts.

Gathering mushrooms from the wild is getting ever more popular, but I don’t do it because even though I’ve had some experience with my mycological friends, every year even expert mushroom collectors eat the wrong fungi and that’s it – they can kill you. There are such a phenomenal range of cultivated mushrooms now available, I suggest sticking with and enjoying that.

I love the mushrooms, dill, and sour cream that frame Hungarian mushroom soup. If you can find a good local organic grass-fed sour cream, then by all means, use that (grass-fed dairy has a more favorable lipid profile as well as being easier on the earth relative to its mass-market cousins). If you are dairy-free, you can substitute a bit of soy milk plus an extra squeeze of lemon to approximate the tang you’ll miss from yogurt or sour cream.

Here I’ve aimed to boost the nutrient density by loading up on herbs – both dill and parsley, as well as other vegetables, and lightened it up with yogurt rather than sour cream. I found that when I used this quantity of herbs, I needed to blend the finished product – herbs are so delicate that when they are cooked like this in a soup, they need to be blended or finely, finely chopped or their texture just isn’t what you want it to be.

Hungarian-inspired Mushroom Soup Recipe

I love the mushrooms, dill, and sour cream that frame Hungarian mushroom soup. If you can find a good local organic grass-fed sour cream, then by all means, use that (grass-fed dairy has a more favorable lipid profile as well as being easier on the earth relative to its mass-market cousins). If you are dairy-free, you can substitute a bit of soy milk plus an extra squeeze of lemon to approximate the tang you'll miss from yogurt or sour cream.
Course Dinner, Lunch

Equipment

  • Heavy Soup Pot

Ingredients

  • 1 - 16 oz package organic mushrooms
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 large carrots
  • 1/2 yellow onion sliced & cubed
  • 1/2 medium yellow turnip peeled and sliced
  • 2 cups organic chicken or vegetable stock
  • about 1 cup fresh dill chopped
  • about 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
  • 2 Tbsp organic grass-fed yogurt or sour cream

Instructions

  • In a heavy soup pot over medium heat, sauté onions in olive oil until translucent.
  • Slice carrots, and clean and slice mushrooms, and slice turnip, discarding any waxy covering it may have. Add these veggies to the pot and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
  • Add stock and simmer 45-60 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, chop herbs.
  • Add herbs and yogurt or sour cream.
  • If necessary, cool and run through a blender for a smooth and creamy texture.

 

Enjoy!

Looking for more delicious and healthy soup recipes?  I highly recommend my Wild Mustard Asparagus Soup!

Egg ‘Poached’ over Wild Mushrooms & Sweet Potato Recipe

Egg ‘Poached’ over Wild Mushrooms & Sweet Potato Recipe

A chef from Kripalu taught me the egg over veggies trick. It’s quick, easy and satisfying. You can substitute any vegetable for the mushrooms and sweet potatoes in this easy breakfast recipe- try spinach, onions, tomatoes or your favorite blend of vegetables.

Let’s talk about wild mushrooms!

This year, our local farmer’s market has had a bumper crop of really beautiful mushrooms for a really reasonable price.  Look at these beauties – oyster mushrooms.
Oyster mushrooms
Do you know that mushrooms have characteristics of both plants and animals? They are strange and wonderful little beings, and nutritionally rich in vitamins and minerals (not, however, protein as is often suggested). You can substitute any mushroom for those I use in this recipe.
This dish, while simple, is wonderfully balanced from a protein-carbohydrate-fat perspective, as there are healthful versions of each. Egg protein will keep you satisfied, as will the bit of anti-inflammatory monounsaturated olive oil. Sweet potatoes are a complex fiber-filled carbohydrate and they and the mushrooms are nutrient-dense, filled with vitamins and nutrients.
Here’s a quick weekday breakfast.

Egg "Poached" on Wild Mushrooms and Sweet Potatoes

This recipe is quick, easy and satisfying. You can substitute any vegetable for the mushrooms and sweet potatoes in this easy breakfast recipe- try spinach, onions, tomatoes or your favorite blend of vegetables.
Course Breakfast, Lunch
Servings 1

Equipment

  • Saute' pan

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2/3 cup wild mushrooms chopped
  • 1/3 cup sweet potato cooked (leftover from the weekend!) and cubed
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme or the fresh or dried herb of your choice

Instructions

  • Warm olive oil in a small pan and sauté mushrooms and sweet potatoes for 3 or 4 minutes over medium-high heat.
  • Crack an egg into the pan, sprinkle with herbs, cover and turn down heat to low-medium. Let the egg “poach” in the steam of the vegetables for 3 or 4 minutes.

Check out my collection of easy healthy tasty recipes.