Sometimes I buy things on a whim in amounts that don’t seem realistic for my 2-person household. Like a 5-pound bag of limes or a 10-pound squash. This week it was a 1-pound container of baby bello mushrooms.
I love mushrooms; I just usually don’t eat enough to finish even half that amount before they start to smell funny.
Since I have been on a roasting kick this fall – pretty much any vegetable that comes through the door is subjected to this cooking method. Today, it was the bellos’ turn.
What to do With a Pound of Mushrooms
Borrowing Calm in the Kitchen’s technique for roasting mushrooms, I developed a delicious, earthy and creamy soup recipe that is simpler and does not include the dairy or gluten from her approach.
Instead, raw walnuts add creaminess to this easy soup.
I imagine that white button mushrooms would work. You may not need to roast them as long.
Place in glass dish with onions and garlic
Roast.
Reserve juices.
Prepare walnut, broth base; puree with some of the mushrooms.
This delicious dairy-free, but creamy, vegetarian soup is earthy and rich. Serve as a starter for a winter meal or heat it up for a comforting lunch. Serves: 6
Ingredients
1 pound mushrooms, cleaned
½ onion chopped into 6 large pieces
5 garlic cloves, peeled
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups broth
½ cup raw walnuts
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp black pepper
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F (~205 C).
In a large glass baking dish, add cleaned, whole mushrooms, onion chunks (break them apart), and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat vegetables well. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove baking dish from oven and reserve ⅓ of the whole mushrooms.
Add the remaining ⅔ of the mushrooms, any juices in the baking dish, and all of the onion and garlic to a blender or food processor. Also add walnuts, thyme, pepper and as much broth as you can. Puree the ingredients and then pour them into a soup pot.
Then chop up remaining mushrooms and stir them into to the puree, along with any remaining broth.
Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
