Mushroom Miso Soup

Months ago I wrote a post about food combinations, the post was for a cheese and onion tart, but I spent quite some time waffling about discussing combinations that just work. I won't repeat myself, but if you are interested in my opinion on the best (and worst food combinations) and what I know about Plato check out this post for Feta and Sweet Onion Tart.

Today's dish, a combination of earthy mushrooms and salty intense miso, works so well that they should perhaps be contenders for the great food combination list.

This soup is great, it is healthy, rich and satisfying and it involves taking a handful of ingredients to create a delicious and simple lunch. That is a result in my books. If you wanted to make this more substantial you could add some noodles to your broth.

I used a wonderful mixed mushroom packet that I bought at our local greengrocers, but any fresh mushroom combination would work here. Even those white button mushrooms will come to life when added to the deep rich miso and the dried shiitake broth. The key to a great miso is to dissolve the paste in some hot liquid and add to the soup once it has been removed from the heat.

Usually I would add some spring onions to this dish but for some very strange reason I just didn't fancy even the mild onion flavour of a spring onion today. I contemplated adding them for my photos and then removing them, but I have always had a strong opinion that I want to share the food we actually eat. If I start making dishes just for the blog I could end up on the slippery slope of cooking just to take photos and then discarding the food.

I actually read an article on Facebook that said that over 40% of food cooked by food bloggers ends up in the dustbin, I was appalled and upset by this statistic. Now I know the quote "There are three types of falsehood. Lies, damned lies and statistics" (Various versions of this exist and have been credited to the likes of Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli) Whoever said it, I understand that stats have to be looked at in context, but the article still upset me. I hate to waste food and there are so many people in need that the thought of a food lover cooking and then throwing good food away just to get a photo, gets me very cross!

Which is all a very round about way of saying that you could, and I usually do add spring onions to this dish, but they are missing from this photo as I just didn't want them today. And that I suppose is the point of cooking for yourself. You can tweak and adapt a recipe to suit your tastes and mood.

So change, adapt and enjoy this super simple but delicious lunch 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

Serves 2

• 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 250ml boiling water
• 500ml vegetable stock
• white pepper
• 250g mushrooms (a mixture of your favourite)
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoon white miso paste
• 1 spring onion
• coriander for garnish

1. Put the dried shiitake mushrooms into a small bowl, pour over the boiling water, cover the bowl with cling film and set aside.
2. Pour the vegetable stock into a pan, give it a good shake of white pepper and bring to a simmer.
3. Roughly chop/slice your mushrooms and add them to the stock.
4. Thinly slice the garlic and add to the stock.
5. Pouch the mushrooms for 5 minutes until cooked through.
6. Drain the shiitake mushrooms through a sieve, reserving the soaking liquid.
7. Finely slice the shiitake mushrooms and add them to the soup along with the soaking liquid.
8. Place the miso paste in a small bowl and add two ladles of the soup. Stir well to combine.
9. Remove the soup from the heat and stir through the dissolved miso.
10. Check for seasoning and add white pepper and salt to taste.
11. Serve with sliced spring onions and a sprig of coriander.