Hungarian mushroom soup is easily, without any contest whatsoever, my absolute all-time favourite soup to eat once the evenings begin to cool in September (continuing throughout the fall and winter.) This classic recipe is taken from The Moosewood Cookbook, both my mom and dad made this soup on weekends when I was growing up and for some reason it always felt special when we ate Hungarian mushroom soup – as if the preparation and consumption of this particular dish was singular in its undeniable ability to simultaneously soothe and nourish. Unfortunately, I live with a inconvertible mushroom hater so this soup is relegated to nights when I’ll be eating dinner alone which is  both good and bad in that I can consume as much as I’d like but usually end up eating the entire pot over the course of a few hours. This recipe boasts a savoury final product that is rich, creamy, and entirely alive with the flavours of lemon, sweet Hungarian paprika, and dill weed. I prefer to use a mixture of mushroom varieties; for this particular example I have used cremini and white button mushrooms, the woodsiness of the cremini mushrooms adds a sort of gamy depth to the soup that accents but does not overwhelm. I don’t ever eat anything with this soup as it stands alone as a perfect supper in my mind, some good rye bread with butter would presumably make an excellent accompaniment.

hungarian mushroom soup:

2 cups of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms

2 cups of thinly sliced white button mushrooms

1 Tbsp. canola oil

2 cups of onions, cut in half and sliced into half-moons

2 Tbsp. salted butter

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 cup of milk

2 tsp. dried dill weed

1 Tbsp. sweet Hungarian paprika

1 Tbsp.  soy sauce

1 tsp. salt

2 cups of stock

The juice of  1 whole lemon

1 small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

1/2 cup of sour cream (full fat)

1. Sauté the onions in the canola oil over medium-high heat in a lidded skillet, salting lightly to ensure that they sweat evenly. Add the mushrooms, 1 tsp. of the dill, 1/2 cup of water, soy sauce and paprika. Toss to combine and cover, stirring occasionally and cooking for 15 minutes. 

2.  In a large soup pot melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk continuously for 2 or 3 minutes (this mixture can very easily stick and burn so make sure you keep a close eye on it as you are whisking.)

3. Add the milk to the roux and heat for about 10 minutes or until the milk starts to thicken. Again, stirring frequently is highly advised. Add the mushrooms and leftover stock. Cover the soup pot with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes, make sure that soup doesn’t boil over.

4. At this point you can just let it sit if you aren’t planning on serving it right away. When you do end up serving it reheat the soup gently and add the sour cream, lemon juice, dill, salt, and pepper. Before bringing to the table sprinkle the bowls liberally with chopped parsley.

I just got back from a visit to London, Ontario where I was attending formal family functions and staying with my mom and sister for two weeks. My sister and I have a lot of overlap in our musical preferences I look forward to finding out what new and interesting music she’s discovered since I left home a year ago. One album that was played a lot was Big Spider’s Back newest album Memory Man. While I enjoy Big Spider’s Back debut EP Warped it has never been something I have listened to on repeat over several days; Memory Man however, has accompanied me on a plane trip, long walks, runs, while cleaning, and while cooking Hungarian mushroom soup.

Big Spider’s Back – Megazone