Posts Tagged ‘soup’
Mushroom and Asparagus Soup Recipe
Vegetable based soups are cheap, easy and are a perfect lunch on a winters day. The trick to any soup is make sure it is seasoned well, so ensure you keep tasting throughout the process favouring the taste of a bit too salty, to a bit too bland.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 3 cups of vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 bunch of asparagus roughly chopped
- handful of swiss brown mushrooms, roughly chopped
- half a handful of shitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
- half a lemon worth of lemon juice
Process
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan on, add the onions, garlic, carrot and celery and saute for a few minutes until the onion is soft and the garlic is aromatic. It is important not to burn the garlic so keep the heat down. Now add the asparagus and mushrooms and cook for a further 4-5 minutes stirring frequently. Add the stock, bay leaf and ample ground sea salt and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes, stirring infrequently. Take the fluid, add the lemon juice and blend in a food processor or with a hand blender into a runny puree. Serve with a garnish asparagus head garnish, a drizzle of olive oil and buttered toast.
Wine Pairing
Asparagus is very difficult to match with wine, however the creaminess of the blended mushroom soup will pair well with a buttery american-oak aged chardonnay with a medium finish.
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This post is part of an ongoing series about dinner ideas.
A newfound source of super flavoursome Doncaster tomatoes inspired this recipe at a recent dinner party. I peeled the tomatoes myself, but you could just as easily use tinned whole tomatoes. I also don’t have a blender so just cooked this down and mashed the tomatoes with a potato masher and cooked the tomato skins down in a small amount of water to turn them to paste.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small brown onion, finely chopped
- celery, finely chopped
- 1 small chilli, finely chopped
- 1kg juicy tomatoes
- 500mL of vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- large handful of fresh basil, shredded
- 2 teaspoons of raw sugar
- sour cream
Process
Peel the tomatoes by submersing in boiling water for 2 minutes and then transfer them to a bowl of cold water. The skin on the larger tomatoes will easily peel off while the smaller ones will need to be helped with the aid of a knife. Save the skin and blend them to paste.
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until soft, add the celery and chilli and cook for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes and blend them roughly with a hand blender. How smooth you want the stock is a matter of preference, I personally prefer it to be pretty chunky for a nice mouth texture. Finally stir the tomato paste, sugar and basil into the soup.
Simmer the fluid for as long as is practical, this should reduce the fluid to a nice thick soup.
Garnish with a fresh basil leaf and a dollop of sour cream.
Wine Pairing
Sangiovese and Barbera always go well with strong tomato sauces and soap. However, in this case with the spicy flavours in this soup it will pair perfectly with a peppery medium-aged Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
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