I woke up this morning to over an inch of new snow 😦 Winter has a funny way of holding on tight here in the sub arctic.  Since today I was home bound with endless amounts of homework I decided to make my favourite soup, Hungarian Mushroom.

This will be perfect recovery food for my sore legs as well.  Yesterday was our first 5K of the season.  I did a little better than I expected but still not up to my speed prior to breaking my foot.  I enjoyed a great time with my awesome running buddies.  This is a great start to the season. I was hoping to rock out some new spring outfits, but mother nature did not agree and decided that it was going to be 26 degrees! I only got this one snap of Pat, me and Heidi. I missed getting Skye and Tom in on the photo.

Now….on to the soup!

This soup is not the prettiest to look at but it is amazing.  Like most Hungarian Mushroom soups it is loosely based on the Moosewood Cookbook version, which is where this soup was first concocted.  And the best thing is that you most likely have the ingredients on hand in the crisper and pantry. My version is a lower carb version. As most everyone knows I follow a low carb lifestyle, so I try to make this as low carb as possible.

• 1-2 pounds of sliced mushroom (more the better) I like cremeni
• 1 cup of finely chopped white onions or any onion but red ones!
• 1 large clove finely chopped garlic, use FRESH or not at all
• 3 cups of low sodium chicken or veggie broth, or use half and half.
• 1/2 cup of heavy or regular whipping cream mixed with 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon of Hungarian Sweet Paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon of Spanish Sweet Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of course ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of course ground sea salt (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon of Dill weed
• 1/4 cup of full fat sour cream (you could use lowfat or full fat greek yogurt) Do not use anything fat free, its just weird
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish
• Juice of half a small Lemon for garnish

Step 1:  In a heavy stock, soup, or dutch oven melt a small amount of butter or olive oil (your choice) and saute the onions for a few minutes (make sure not to brown them) then add the mushrooms.  Saute till mushrooms are soft and onions translucent.  Then add the garlic.

Step 2: Add in the paprika and stir. I like to toast it and cook it a little before I add in the chicken stock. Then add the rest of the spices, minus the parsley.

Step 3: Add in the soy and your stock of choice. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes covered

Step 4: Add in the cream and water mixture. Simmering again for 10-15 minutes, I leave it uncovered from here on out.

Step 5: Remove from heat, wait about 5 minutes and add in the sour cream.  You need to let it cool just a little so that the sour cream doesn’t curdle.

Step 6: Add in the lemon juice and add the parsley. Now check for seasoning and add salt and more pepper as needed.

Normally I will serve this with a side of a small protein for myself, like a small half of a grilled chicken breast.  Today I was serving it to someone else, so I added in a toasted piece of ciabatta bread to finish it off.  If you leave off the bread the carb count is low’ish.  Probably around 10-12 net for six servings. But for me this make 4 decent dinner sized portions.  Removing the flour and the whole milk (subbing in diluted cream) and reducing the number of onions by half, really cut back on the number of carbs.

This is perfect as a side dish or a dinner soup on a cold day.  It is one of my most favourite soups to make.