Cippolini and Mushroom Soup

Have I mentioned, I'm a loud, proud Soup Freak? 😃

I always have a pot of in my 'fridge, all year 'round.  In winter, it's often two.  Yesterday both of my current soup pots were almost empty.  I stopped at our wonderful food co-op on my home from a very busy day.  Retail-Therapy some call it, when they're tired, sad, needing some sort of boost, etc. . .They'll get a manicure, buy a new pair of shoes, get their hair done. . .My version of this will always be Food-Shopping-Therapy 😉

I found gorgeous Dandelion Greens, which I've never used before, so I'll conjure up a recipe for those.  Also, some real, actual McIntosh Apples, which I haven't seen in years!  An amazing squash, beautiful fat organic carrots and garlic that will go in the pot with other ingredients to create a blended pumpkin-spice enhanced soup, with or without coconut milk, I haven't decided yet.

Ahhh, digression. . .This recipe evolved from a stroll through the organic produce section. I grabbed up a pound of perfect mushrooms - and - CIPPOLINI Onions!!  Ohhhh. . .Onion Perfection!  So hard to find!  They're a very flat onion - think fat hockey puck - as opposed to a perfectly spherical one.  I won't even tell you how much they cost, but they're worth every penny!  I found two big yellow-white ones and a perfect little purple one.  Ya gotta splurge once in a while.

~footnote. . .The manager who checked me out, was so busy complaining about a co-worker to another manager, who was helping bag my groceries, that checker-manager messed this it up!  He rang them up as 'sweet onions' although these were clearly marked as cippolinis.  I didn't see this until reviewing my receipt, later that night.  Unprofessional inattentiveness = lost profits!  About $6 worth in this case!  As a Co-Op Member-Owner, if asked, I'd give him a bad performance review! 

1 lg. yellow-white cippolini onion

1# tiny white button mushrooms

3T butter

3 small Yukon gold potatoes

salt and pepper*

1T Alessi white balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

5 lg. fresh garlic cloves

4-6c fresh cold water

1-2T Better Than Bouillon - vegetable flavor

~ or ~ mushroom flavor if you can find it

⅓ bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley

white or black truffle oil

Peel and half the onion, put it cut side down on your cutting board, then slice it thin.  Put these into a 4 quart pot with the washed-dried, sliced or quartered mushrooms, scrubbed-dried, cubed potatoes, butter, and your favorite salt and pepper *(today I used finely ground Tellicherry pepper, which is a milder, fruitier pepper, and Himalayan pink salt)  Saute' slowly over low-medium heat until the onions are a little translucent and the mushrooms begin release their water for 20 minutes.  This will create a more delicate, clear broth soup.  (If you'd like it browner and heartier, saute' only the first 3 ingredients over higher heat until the onions are caramelized and the mushrooms are browning, evaporating the liquid.  Then add the rest of the ingredients in that group and proceed.)

Add the balsamic, minced garlic, water, and soup base.  Stir everything together, cover and bring up to a simmer.  Cook on low heat 15 minutes.  Finely chop the parsley, add to the pot, simmer again for another 5 minutes.  Cover, turn off the burner and let the flavors blend for 10 minutes.

At this point you could also use your immersion blender to make this a smooth soup.  Another variation would be to stir in a cup of sour cream, whether you blend the soup or not.  As I tasted this, I immediately thought some browned Italian sausage, maybe ⅓-½#, and a can of drained, rinsed cannellini beans (Italian white kidney beans) would be wonderful additions!

Ladle whatever you've created from this recipe into soup bowls, drizzle with truffle oil and top with good, crispy croutons before serving.

Be Bold - Be Creative!  Make Some Soup! 😋 Lin