This Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup is so rich and flavorful, no one will miss the cream. The Mushroom Salad Garnish adds texture, color and interest, making it fun to eat this soup.
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| Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup |
Creamy soups are pure comfort. Not only are creamy soups lusciously smooth, but they provide pure and simple comfort, especially on a frigid day. Creamy soups can be made without any cream and you won’t even notice, as long as the flavors in the soup are full flavored and the soup is pureed to a creamy consistency.
Recently, I made this Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup without any added cream, inspired byDorie Greenspan‘s Paris Mushroom Soup recipe in her new cookbook, Around My French Table. Since I still had champagne left from New Year’s (we’re not champagne drinkers, but always pop a bottle open to celebrate, so there’s always extras), I decided to add some to the mushroom soup.
Mushrooms have umami on their own, but I decided to use some soy sauce to give this mushroom soup even more umami. With the addition of some fresh winter herbs (sage and thyme), I made a rich, deep flavored, absolutely luxuriously tasting creamy mushroom soup, without an ounce of cream.
Visually, creamless mushroom soup might appear a bit drab and boring, but embellished with the right garnishes, this creamy mushroom soup comes to life, contrasting a creamy texture with a little coolness and crunch.
According to Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook, the French sometimes dress up their soups (especially creamy soups), by adding toppings such as nuts, croutons or a mini salad. I love this idea and have been trying different toppings in my soups. These toppings add another dimension to the soup, some crunch, contrasting colors and temperatures, making the soup more interesting and fun to eat.
Satisfyingly rich tasting, and topped with a cool Mushroom Salad, you won’t miss the cream, and you’ll feel that much better knowing that you have just eaten a bowl of fresh, clean soup.
Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves sliced
- 2 10- ounce packages or 7 cups of white button mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage chopped
- 2-3 sprigs fresh <g class="gr_ gr_174 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="174" data-gr-id="174">thyme </g> leaves removed
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ cup champagne or white wine
- 4 cups vegetable broth if using store-bought broth, buy low-sodium
Mushroom Salad Garnish
- 4 button mushrooms trimmed, thinly sliced
- ½ red bell pepper finely diced
- 1 scallion green parts only, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
Instructions
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Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add mushrooms, sage, thyme, soy sauce and paprika, and stir well. Mushrooms will release liquid and shrink in size. Continue cooking until liquid from mushrooms is almost completely evaporated.
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Add champagne and stir; cook until liquid is almost evaporated. Add broth and bring soup to a boil; reduce heat to low and cook, covered for 20 minutes.
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Puree soup in a blender until smooth.
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To make Mushroom Salad Garnish, combine mushrooms, red bell peppers, scallion, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. Add a dash of salt.
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To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Top with Mushroom Salad Garnish.
More Creamless Cream Soups
Creamy (Creamless) Zucchini and Potato Soup, The Nourishing Gourmet
Creamless Cream of Asparagus, i eat food
Roasted Pumpkin Soup, My Kitchen My Laboratory
Creamless Mushroom Soup, Pino Luongo
Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Chestnut Soup Recipe and Culinary Exploration Workshop
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We both must have had soup on the brain yesterday. While you made a creamless soup mine was a Cream of Cilantro Soup. This soup looks so delicious and I normally prefer a broth based soup over a creamy one. I need to try this one soon.
Hope you have a chance to try it. I've never had Cream of Cilantro, but it sounds tasty. Did it have cream in it?
I have been on a soup kick lately. Can't wait to try this one!
Love this recipe as I can make it here in ecuador!
Maria: Soups are on my mind especially now that it's so cold outside.
Ayngelina: That's what I love about blogging, connecting and sharing with people from all over the world.
This looks amazing! I love the freshness and goodness just staring at me from the bowl. Must make!
Thanks Suzanne, the mushroom salad on top definitely adds a nice fresh taste to this soup.
I see you are a soup lover like me! This is so delicious looking. I love the mushroom salad on top – what a nice touch!