I am pretty sure that if the entire world were to taste this soup all at the same time, we would have peace across the land. It is THAT unbelievably, amazingly, wonderously delicious and super-powered. Super Powered I tell you and not a word of a lie.
My version of the soup was inspired by the perfect version of the soup that Elana made up for me when she had me to dinner a few weeks ago. I'll admit that it is rare that I get invited to people's homes for dinner. I am not an easy one to feed. I knew, though, that Elana would be the last person to ever serve food that could be deemed "shwa shwa", her terminology for crap.
This four mushroom soup with a kicker of burdock root, might be one of the most amazing adventures I have had yet in cooking. I am new to the world of 'shrooms. I left nutrition school thinking they were a danky fungus, that grew on garbage in the dark and it wasn't until I visited Brother Matthew and Christina's organic mushroom farm in Dominica that I was convinced that good quality, organic mushrooms may actually be the secret to world peace.
Now, in 500 words, there is no way I can get into the amazing properties of these healthful fungi. Josh, has recently become slightly obsessed with mushrooms. They each have their own individual healing benefits and can easily be found at your local organic grocer, asian market or even dried, in packets at the health food store. Try your own variety.
I like the shiitakes the best, especially this time of year as they help invigorate the immune system with their active compound called lentinan. One of lentinan's healing benefits is the ability to power up the immune system, strengthening its powers to fight infection and disease. Chaga (often found in herb stores) contains beta glucans which are powerful immune boosters that work by stimulating the body's ability to set up cellular defenses- like Fort Knox for your cells!
Maitake mushrooms are known for their cancer-fighting properties. They contain grifolan, an important beta-glucan that activates macrophages, the cells considered the " heavy artillery" of the immune system, that eat up the crap we let creep in. Reishi mushroom is also a great one, but alas, I didn't have any. See! Improvisation work a-okay!
World Peace Mushroom Soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1-3 hours
Keywords: one-pot boil entree dinner soup soup/stew dairy-free gluten-free low-sodium low-carb vegetarian vegan mushroom whole food fall winter
Ingredients (Serves 4-6, depending on size)
- 6 small shallots, coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1/2 celery root, peeled and sliced into cubes
- 1 heaping handful of napa cabbage, sliced
- 1/2 zucchini, quartered and cut in chucks
- 2-3 cups organic king oyster mushrooms, sliced
- 2-3 cups organic shitake mushrooms, sliced (or 1//2 – 1 cup dried)
- 1/2 cup dried maitake mushrooms
- 2 Tbs chaga mushroom, ground
- 4 inches burdock root, peeled and chopped (or 2 Tbs dried and ground)
- 6-8 cups of water
- 1 1/2 Tbs caraway seeds, ground
- 2 tsp Thyme
- 2 Tbs tamari
- 1 handful arame (or dapple of seaweed of choice)
- 2-3 Tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup miso paste
- parsley to garnish
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a soup pot and lightly saute all veggies and mushrooms in the oil.
Add water to cover veggies.
Stir in chaga, caraway, thyme, tamari and arame.
Bring to a rapid boil and them reduce to simmer for 1-3 hours.
Allow to cool slightly.
Add miso paste to the blender and run soup through blender until smooth (or mostly smooth). I like my Vita Mix but a hand held blender, food processor or regular blender should do the trick.
Add tamari and/or sea salt to taste (I didn’t need to add anything to mine- tasted world peace like just as it was).
Add parsley and drizzle with tamari to garnish before serving.
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