Spinach and Mushroom Soup

After the holidays, it’s always good to be more conscious about taking in more vegetables and finally cut down on sugar and fat. A lot of people do a vegan detox of some sort, making lovely smoothies all week. As for me, because I love savory food, I introduce some vegetable soups to the family for at least a week. It’s not a total detox because I want these soups to be really hearty and flavorful, yet still quite healthy. For the next couple of days I will be sharing different vegetable soups. Feel free to swap some ingredients if you need your soup to be more plant based.

The first soup that I made this week is Spinach and Mushroom Soup. Spinach has quite a strong taste and while it is possible to have just spinach in the soup, I added some mushrooms to add a layer of umami to the dish. Then I balanced it out with a good chicken stock—boiled with the basics like celery, carrots, onions and garlic—however, if you are vegan, you can always replace this with a good clear vegetable stock. Lastly, I added cream (again, you can replace this with something plant based, in this case almond milk, or soy cream) to round up the flavors for a rich, delicious taste.

So here’s the recipe and I hope you enjoy it!

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves, washed
• 1 ½ cup of assorted mushrooms (button, shitake, porcini etc)
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• 250 ml all purpose cream
• ½ teaspoon of dry sage
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a saucepan or pot, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Once the onions are translucent, add the sage and oregano and let them sweat out a little.
2. Add the assorted mushrooms and sautee until the mushrooms are cooked through.
3. Add the spinach and sautée briefly before adding the chicken stock.
4. Let the pot boil for 2 minutes.
5. Use a hand blender, or transfer the mixture to the blender. Season with salt and pepper
6. Serve with a bit of heated cream. You can choose to pour it over the bowls individually, or include in the soup mixture before serving. Enjoy!