Italy loves soup. And honestly, I love soup! I feel like soup is not a common dish you see in chef-owned restaurants nowadays. You see it in Italian restaurants in America. You definitely see it in Italy.
When I was a private chef, my boss at the time, Habib, told me one winter: “I want a different soup every day”. I was already very comfortable making soup, but had never been challenged with variety like that. It was an odd exercise but it cemented my commitment to making soup lol. I also feel like it’s a great dish to serve for texture and aroma on a tasting menu. So it serves Mabel Gray well.
We recently ran our vegan mushroom bisque at the restaurant. This is a soup that I’ve been making for years (in one version or another). It’s rich, umami, creamy and filling. It’s a crowd-pleaser for the vegans looking for sustenance. For the lover of mushrooms, it’s just a bowl of comfort.
Every time we put the soup on the menu or post on social media, I’m asked about the recipe. Other than through this travel guide, I actually don’t write down or give out many recipes at all. But this soup is worth making at home. You will need a high-powered blender like a KitchenAid pro or a Vitamix. I think it’s crucial that the soup is puréed into oblivion.
One of the tricks to a deeply flavored soup is to use both fresh and dried mushroom. For the dried, you can use a higher end mushroom like porcini or morels. I prefer porcini. For the fresh mushrooms, I like a variety. Think cinnamon cap/maitake/nebrodini/trumpets etc. But if you’re limited in options, shiitake and crimini will work too.
Sometimes I will deglaze the aromatics with sherry wine or white wine. But it’s not mandatory.
The soup.
You will need
1 large Spanish onion, diced
1 small bunch of celery, cleaned and diced
1 cup garlic cloves, smashed
1 Tablespoon picked fresh thyme
2-4 oz dried mushrooms
3 lb fresh mushrooms
3-4 quarts of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk
Salt and pepper
Aged sherry vinegar, soy sauce, and Tabasco to taste.
First, toss the fresh mushrooms in a little olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast in the oven until they are softened and have lost about half their weight. Don’t drain any liquid. It will go in the soup.
Sauté the onion, celery and garlic in olive in a large pot or Dutch oven until soft. Add the thyme and dried mushroom. Stir to slightly hydrate and aromatize the dried mushrooms. Now is when you can deglaze the soup with 1 cup of sherry wine or 2 cups of white wine. If you do so, let the wine cook down until almost evaporated before adding the roasted mushrooms and any drippings. If not, just skip and go right to adding the roasted mushrooms. Add the coconut milk and heat, stirring frequently. I always hold a little bit of coconut milk back just in case I need to thin the soup out after puréeing. Once simmering, add salt and a little pepper to taste. You should be adding a little salt at each step as you go. That’s at least what I do. Once the mushrooms and vegetables are all soft and tender, it’s time to purée the soup.
I like to use a ladle and strong blender. Only fill the blender about halfway or 2/3 at the most. Hot soup will want to explode out of the blender if it’s too full. And this will be regretful for you and your kitchen. I like to purée in small batches and move to another vessel to season. It is important that you begin blending on a low speed and slowly increase the speed. Once it is on high speed, you should let it purée for a minute or so until it is baby-food-smooth. Repeat until all of the soup is puréed and in a new vessel.
I like to use soy sauce, aged sherry vinegar, Tabasco and salt to season. If the soup is too thick, you can add a little coconut milk or water until the consistency is right. You can always add more salt and you can always thin a soup out. But if it’s salty or too thin, you’re gonna be sad.
Once the soup is seasoned and delicious, you are ready to go. However, I love fun crunchy garnishes for smooth soups. So you can add croutons, or crispy fried or air fried mushrooms, chile crisp, roasted cauliflower florets, scallions, shaved raw fennel etc. Whatever you want! You can even add a few seared scallops in there and make it a meal. The world is yours. There’s so mush-room for activities! 😅