The Secret Ingredient in Ina Garten’s Mushroom Soup (Just Kidding!)
Let's slurp something delicious!
Ina Garten has a wonderful recipe for mushroom soup, but that’s not the one I’m sharing today. I’ll get to that in a minute.
I read a lot of food websites, so you don’t have to. I even contributed to one for a long while. That site, among several other successful ones, was bought and sold a few times, eventually by a mammoth publishing machine. I’m not knocking it. That’s like biting the hand that feeds me, but lately they all sound the same.
Ina, Martha, Giada, etc.…I love and admire them. They worked hard to build empires in a very difficult male-dominated world. They capture our attention, and why shouldn’t they? Their recipes are solid, and they deserve all the accolades. I hope they inspire a lot of people to cook something. Anything! I have nothing against using their names to garner attention for their recipes. More power to the ladies! But….
My observation: Once upon a time, food sites each had a distinctive voice, one that you could trust, or at least know what you were getting yourself into. Sadly, now they all sound the same.
“Giada’s Viral Sheet Pan Lasagna”
“What’s the one ingredient I can’t leave Costco without, according to a nutritionist?”
“The five things my kids love at Trader Joe’s”
“The TikTok hack that changed my life”
Highly clickable, right?
My takeaway: more than ever, people don’t have enough time or energy to spend on cooking. They want to know what the familiar, iconic cooking divas do to get dinner on the table. Or where to shop. Or what to shop for. Other voices are muffled, and that’s a shame, because there are so many interesting ones out there still to be discovered.
I get it. I cook every week, all week long. If I’ve been working on a cake recipe all day, I don’t always have the bandwidth to make supper. Those three-ingredient recipes are alluring.
Of course, the other side of the argument is that you can derive pleasure from taking a little more time to cook. It slows you down and takes you into the moment. You can choose (it is a choice) not to frantically throw stuff together just to get it over with. It’s like taking a long, deep breath at the end of what might have been a crap day. Or a good day. Or any kind of day. And the ultimate pleasure is feeding people you love, even if it’s only you at the table.
So, I’m searching for balance along with you. In my twenties and thirties, I could devote half a day to making something complicated and enjoy doing it. I was learning, and with each new trial and error, the process started to sink in. I became a better cook for it.
But children, work, life, and the busy-ness that plagues every one of us, often derail the best intentions. Eat healthy! Cook at home! Avoid take-out! (But I’m too tired. I didn’t shop. I didn’t plan. I’m so hungry.) Sometimes (a lot of the time) I want wiki-wiki recipes, too.
I don’t think a recipe for mushroom soup is going to solve the problem, but it’s a start. Mix it up, try a new recipe, decide you are going to cook one meal every week from scratch. Breathe into it. Set the table and pour yourself a glass of something. Light some candles.
This life is flying by. Let’s try to stop and smell the Bolognese. Because it’s all part of this beautiful mess of the world we live in.
Creamy Mushroom Soup with No Cream (That's Not Ina Garten’s)
This is one of those in-between recipes—it’s not a huge time commitment, but not instant. On the plus side, the recipe makes a lot, and you can freeze at least half of it. If you do freeze it, don’t freak out when you defrost it. It looks awful! But 30 seconds in the blender restores it to its former glory. That’s an instant meal.
That secret ingredient? Dried mushrooms. They make what appears to be a boring-looking soup taste earthy, rich, and satisfying. Bonus #1 it’s creamy, but no cream is involved. Bonus #2 it’s vegetarian and vegan, if you choose to make it with vegetable stock. (Chicken stock is always an option.)
Fresh cremini mushrooms are the older sibling of the white mushroom. They are more mature, and their color is closer to what you might find in the wild. Their flavor is also more pronounced, so the earthy flavor of mushrooms in this soup really sings.
Creamy Mushroom Soup with No Cream (That's Not Ina Garten’s)
Makes about 10 cups soup
Prep time:15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
1 ounce dried porcini, shiitake, or oyster mushrooms (or a combination)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 pounds fresh cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 handful fresh thyme, tied together with twine
1 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 quart vegetable stock, chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon raw basmati rice (any kind of rice will do)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons chopped parsley or chives (for garnish)
1. Bring a kettle of water to a boil. In a small bowl, place the dried mushrooms and pour in enough boiling water to cover them. Soak for 20 minutes. Strain and reserve the soaking liquid. Add enough water to the soaking liquid to make 4 cups.
2. In a large soup pot over medium high heat, heat the oil. Add the fresh cremini mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic, onion, thyme, and soy sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
Add the stock, rice, the diluted mushroom soaking water, the reconstituted dried mushrooms, and a pinch each of salt, and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes longer. Remove the thyme.
3. In a blender in 3-cup batches, puree until smooth. Return to the pot and stir in the lemon juice. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if you like.
4. Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with parsley and chives, and serve.
Extra credit reading:
How to prep mushrooms for soup: Mushrooms are porous and absorb water if you rinse them too far in advance, but when you plan to cook them in a soup, you don’t need to carefully remove debris one mushroom at a time! The fastest and easiest way to prep them is to swish them around in a large bowl of cool water. The dirt that clings to them should sink to the bottom of the bowl. Use your hands to transfer them to a layer of paper towels to drain. Do this just before you are going to make the soup. Note that some wild mushrooms (as opposed to button, cremini or portobello) are more delicate, and should be quickly rinsed and patted dry with paper towels just before cooking.
You can slice the mushrooms by hand, but a food processor slicer is the quickest way to get your soup going. You are going to puree the soup at the end of cooking, so perfectly sliced mushrooms are not a prerequisite
What makes this mushroom soup creamy if there is no cream? A high proportion of mushrooms to stock in this recipe translates into a creamy result when the soup is pureed. A tablespoon of rice—an old French trick for thickening pureed vegetable soups—also adds body. This is a handy way to serve a creamy vegan soup and skip the dairy. You will use some of the mushroom soaking water and vegetable stock for the soup broth, and they provide more than enough mushroom flavor to make this soup a hit.
Little tweaks: To balance the pronounced mushroom flavor, I like to use a little lemon juice to brightenthe final taste. Also, to add crunch, make some tiny croutons by frying a few little bread cubes in olive oil until golden. Sourdough has a lot of flavor, but if you want to make this soup gluten-free, just use your favorite gluten free bread.
Love mushroom soup, and always cook from scratch!!
Lovely. I really like your rice trick, it had never occurred to me. Just put mushrooms and thyme on my grocery list…I’ve been in need of some new soups, and I haven’t made mushroom soup in eons!
Cooking fatigue is real! And so is link click-bait fatigue…your intro made me nod my head a lot.