Mushroom Soup & Avocado Toast

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I think our original plan was to share something bright and spring inspired. But faith intervened with a few cold days, a bag of portobello mushrooms showing up in our CSA box and a sudden calling for soup. So this happened. A warm and comforting vegan mushroom soup with tones of white wine, forest, rosemary and thyme. It’s an ideal dinner soup, especially when served with wholegrain rice and a few pieces roasted sourdough rye slathered with mashed avocado and chili flakes. Think of it like one final winter hug before spring is taking over the kitchen.

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Mushroom Soup with Red Rice & Avo Toast
Serves 4

Rice
1 cup uncooked red rice
2 cups water 
sea salt 

Mushroom Soup
2 tbsp coconut oil, olive oil butter or ghee

2 garlic cloves
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
4 (250 g) portobello mushroom, cleaned
8 (250 g) brown button mushroom or champignon, cleaned
a large glug of white wine, optional
4 cups / 1 liter water
1 tbsp (or 1 cube) vegetable bouillon
sea salt and black pepper

fresh parsley, for serving
plain yogurt, for serving (optional)

Cooking the rice: Rinse the rice well in water and drain. Place in a saucepan with the 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, immediately lower the heat to a bare simmer, let simmer for 45 minutes or until tender. Add salt towards the end of the cooking time. Drain any excess water. Meanwhile make the soup.

Making the soup: Finely chop garlic cloves and slice the mushrooms. Heat oil in a large saucepan and add garlic and cook until fragrant but not browned. Add mushrooms and herbs and cook for about 5-8 minutes until soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally. Reserve some of the cooked mushroom slices for serving. Add a glug of wine to the saucepan and cook for a few minutes. Now add water, bouillon, salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and bring to a simmer. Use an immersion (hand) blender to mix the soup until completely smooth (or a stand-blender). Season to taste. Serve in bowls with a spoonful of cooked rice, some mushroom slices, fresh parsley, olive oil, a dollop of yogurt if using, and an avocado toast.

Avocado Toast
Makes 4 half-slices

2 slices sourdough rye
1 ripe avocado
1 tsp cold-pressed olive oil
chili flakes
flaky sea salt

Toast the bread in a toaster, a frying pan or in the oven on high heat for a few minutes until golden and crispy. Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh. Use a fork to mash the avocado and then slather it on top of the toast. Drizzle oil on top and sprinkle with chili flakes and salt. Cut in half and serve with the soup.

Green Kitchen Stories

Summer Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream

Summer Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream and Feta | http://naturallyella.comRecipe originally posted on August 8th, 2012. Last updated August 16th, 2015.

On occasion I daydream about the most random things.  Somtimes I take to daydreaming about owning a traveling food truck and venturing out across the United States. (I also suppose I have Sarah and Melissa to thank for starting me down this path as they both graciously offered up their driveways as parking spots for me).  While the food truck isn’t really a reality (nor would I want to incur the cost of a traveling truck), it’s still fun to daydream.

I dream of crispy, wood-fire pizzas (this truck makes that possible), fresh spring rolls using ingredients from whatever state I happen to be in, delicious curries (because sometimes I crave curry), freshly baked cinnamon rolls (I need something not healthy) and tacos, like every day.

Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream | http://naturallyella.com

Even though I won’t have a food truck anytime soon so you can try these delicious vegetarian tacos first hand, I made you more tacos (because you can never have enough taco recipes.)

This time I just packed them full of cumin-spiced roasted vegetables and called them good.  No grains, no beans, just summer veg goodness.  Don’t freak out at the long ingredient list, it’s mainly because I used whatever I had in my kitchen.  If you used zucchini and sweet corn you would still have one heck of a delicious taco.

Oh and let us not forget the avocado (really essential to any excellent vegetarian taco.)

Summer Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream | http://naturallyella.com

Pairings for Vegetarian Tacos

While I recommend you can add beans to these tacos, I actually love to get my protein from the side dishes. I almost always have a rice/bean combo on the side and let the vegetables stand on their own. These summer vegetarian tacos are a good kitchen-sink recipe for when you don’t know what to make but have a bounty of produce.

Appetizer: Chips and Salsa! I love this Roasted Salsa Verde (and old recipe, but a good one!) Or, you could try your hand at a fermented salsa.

Side: Toasted Garlic Rice and maybe some vegetarian refried black beans.

Dessert: Horchata Ice Cream

5.0 from 1 reviews

Summer Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 6 to 8 tacos

Ingredients
  • Filling:
  • 1 small zucchini, diced
  • 1 small summer squash, diced
  • ½ medium red onion, diced
  • 1 ear sweet corn, removed from cob
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 1 medium red pepper, diced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Avocado Cream:
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • ⅓ cup full fat, plain greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup cilantro
  • 1 tablespoons lime juice
  • Everything Else:
  • Feta or Goat Cheese
  • 6 to 8 corn tortillas
  • Extra cilantro

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400˚. Prepare all the veggies as described and toss with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and cumin. Roast until tender and lightly browning, 20 to 25 minutes.
  2. While veggies are roasting, whip together avocado, greek yogurt, cilantro, and lime juice either by hand or in a blender.
  3. To assemble tacos, warm up tortillas over an open flame or on a heated griddle. Assemble with roasted veggies, avocado cream, and a sprinkle of feta.

Notes
If you want a bit of protein, black beans or chickpeas would make an excellent addition to this meal!

Summer Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado Cream and Roasted Vegetables | http://naturallyella.com

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