Plant Based Cream of Mushroom Soup with Wild Rice

I recently made this soup for a client and it was a huge hit! I played around with a few recipes and wound up with this combination of flavours and ingredients. This soup is creamy, packed with those earthy goodness flavours and satiates you through the day! This recipe can be made with the rice substitute but I do find it makes for a delicious texture and provides a bit of a deeper flavour profile! While cooking this one, someone made a comment about how it smelled like thanksgiving, it’s that cosy and delicious!

Ingredients

Mirapoix: 1-2 celery stalks, 2 carrots 1 large onion finely chopped (I cheated and used my food processor)

1 large leek

1-2 tbsp vegan or regular butter (can use oil, but I find this really brings out the leek flavour)

4-5 cups mix of mushrooms (can just use brown as well)

1 cup wild rice

2-3 tbsp all purpose flour

1 can coconut milk

1 cup soy milk (optional)

few sprigs of fresh thyme/oregano/sage whichever you choose

6 cups veggie stock (or more depending on the texture you like)

Method

Add melted butter to a heavy bottomed pot. Chop the entire leek in fine strips and cook with the melted butter. Let these guys cook down until fragrant and nice and soft. Add the mirapoix and let this cook down (the longer the better). Add the herbs and salt + pepper to taste.

Once fragrant and soft about 10-15mins, add the chopped mushrooms. These guys need to keep cooking until they release their juices and are quite reduced in size. Add the flour slowly as you stir in through the mixture. You want all the liquid to dry up and then add in a bit of the coconut milk to deglaze (cleans up all that delicious browning on the bottom of your pot). Add in the wild rice and coat it in the veggie mixture.

Add your veggie stock and let cook for about 30 minutes, or until rice is cooked. Remove the herb sprigs. You can take a few pieces off (just the leaves) and add them back in. Add in your coconut milk and soy milk and blend slightly. If you have an immersion or handheld blender just give it a few pulses. If you have a blender take a few scoops and give it a good blend. This is simply to help bring out all the flavours and bring in a bit of extra creaminess!

Serve this once the whole soup is hot and simmering.