Mushrooms and Onion Scapes Soup … cooking in season

“Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.”
Auguste Escoffier

Mushroom and Onion Scape Soup Mushrooms and Onion Scapes Soup … for the soul! I was completely mesmerised by the onion scapes I bought at the local bazaar. I love this fantastic season. Each time I step into the overflowing fruit and vegetable shop, I rediscover seasonal produce from last year. That day two large bunches of scapes stared at me, and again, shouting my name out LOUD!

How could I resist it? I asked the guy for a few stalks, and he packed the whole bunch off with me. Said, “Take the whole bunch. I know you’ll do something with it. All yours!!” Seriously, they are beautiful. I put some in a milk-jug and they began opening into the most beautiful flowers a while later.

Wasn’t very sure what I’d with so many, but knew how pretty they would look in a vase! Sometimes the real beauty of nature comes from flowers like these. I love them! A discussion with Man Friday followed where he declared these were garlic scapes. A nibble later, I figured they were definitely more oniony than garlicky. 

I had mushroom soup on my mind that morning. With the weather nippy all over again, soups offer the ultimate comfort; a healthy option, even better. This one is simple, uses staple pantry ingredients, and can go gluten free too.

In the past I have made it with mushrooms, potato and a generous amount of fresh coriander. The base is often milk and some vegetable stock as I usually have a large jar of homemade stock in the fridge. When I feel indulgent, you can find me pouring in some low fat cream too! Oh and often walnuts to add texture…

Some onion scapes needed a more handy alternative to sitting in the milk jug as it was rather full. The soup offered the perfect destination. As I said, you can pretty much play around with the ingredients. Is fun!

I did something else with the soup too that night. I was making breaded chicken fillets for the kids. Instead of doing the normal egg, flour and breadcrumbs coating assembly line, I sneaked some soup into a bowl. Dunked the Italian seasoning marinated breast fillets first into soup, then into wholewheat home made breadcrumbs, and shallow fried the fillets.

While the son enjoyed his in burgers, the ‘constantly on a diet’ daughter ate crumb fried fillets with char grilled broccoli. The son came back to say these were the best tasting burgers ever! “Really nice Mama!” Must have been the soup!! Soup has been the call this  winter! Loads of it.

So what’s your favourite comfort or soul food in winter? Do you make soup from scratch? I did an amazing Smokey Roasted Tomato Soup {pictured above} for a client I am developing recipes for. Heard the other day that a friend was making pumpkin and peanut butter soup. I was completely intrigued. I guess it’s time to explore more soups as winter is still here.

And before I scoot, it’s time to announce the winner {s} of the Nirlep giveaway on my blog. A 1000 apologies for the delay, but I was travelling a little bit, and now the elder teen has her board exams. Between driving her up and down, and feeding her ‘comfort food’ on demand 24 X 7, there seems to be little time to blog!

Food however is always cooked in the PAB household, so the handi has been put to good use. I am really happy to have received it for review because I didn’t know what I was missing! The Nirlep handi is very very versatile indeed. From cooking pasta until al dente to making pasta and pizza sauces, to numerous rounds of steamed bathua leaves or chenopodium{or lamb’s quarter}of bathua ka raita, to delicious stir fried chicken mince, then meatballs too, I have seriously used it a lot!

I am thrilled to offer one as a giveaway that was announced when I reviewed the utensil.  The winner of the Ebony Handi is Swapna Mickey. Since we had a load on entries, Nirlep offered to send Nirlep Cookware to two more participants. They are Reeta Skeeter and Manjeet Kaur. Congratulations ladies and thank you so much for joining the giveaway {and for waiting so patiently}. Will mail you shortly.

[print_this]Recipe: Mushroom and Onion Scapes Soup

Summary: Soul satisfying, rich and creamy without extra calories, Mushroom and Onion Scapes Soup is pure comfort food for winter. Serve with a chargrilled broccoli salad, oven wedges, crumb fried chicken / fish, some crusty bread, maybe a green salad. 

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 6-8 onion scapes, chopped
  • 200g button mushroom, chopped
  • 1 green chili, halved {optional}
  • 1 small potato, diced
  • small bunch fresh coriander
  • 450ml low fat milk
  • 1 tsp cornflour {dissolved in 1 tsp cold milk}
  • 150ml water {or vegetable stock}
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

  1. Stove top
  2. Heat oil in the handi or a heavy bottom pan. Add the onion and garlic and sweat until light pink. Add the onion scapes and saute briefly.
  3. Now add the mushroom, chili and potato. Saute for a minute.
  4. Add the milk and water / stock. and simmer covered for about 20 minutes until the potato is cooked.
  5. Stir in the cornflour mix and stir until the soup thickens. You can skip the cornflour for a GF version. Reduce the water/stock, or add it only if required.
  6. Add salt to taste. Take off heat once the desired consistency has been reached. Puree with an immersion blender once it’s cool enough to do so.
  7. Thermomix version
  8. Place onion, garlic and onion scapes in TM bowl and process for a few seconds on speed 5 to chop.
  9. Drizzle in olive oil and cook on 100C, reverse speed 1 for 3 minutes.
  10. Add whole mushrooms and a quartered potato and run on speed 5 for a few seconds until chopped.
  11. Add the milk, cornflour, salt and water. Stir for 10 seconds on reverse speed2.
  12. Cook to 15 minutes on reverse speed 2 at 90C.
  13. Blend at speed 10 for 1 minute to puree.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

8 thoughts on “Mushrooms and Onion Scapes Soup … cooking in season”

  5. Hey Deeba,

    Thanks a ton for the lovely Nirlep gift..Received it today and am so excited..:)
    Thanks..:)

    Reply

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