gourmet babble: Hearty Tuscan Tomato and Wild Mushroom Bisque

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot (chopped)
1 tablespoon garlic (diced or minced; roasted okay)
1-2 Roma (or other kind you like) tomatoes (diced)
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms (ends of stems cut off and sliced)
1-2 tablespoons flour (rye or other)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock (chicken or beef at your discretion)
1-2 tablespoons truffle-infused olive oil
1/2 - 1 cup soy milk or cream
1 tablespoon cilantro (minced)
1/2 teaspoon tarragon (minced)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme (minced) - optional
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon pepper (ground)
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ground) - optional
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon allspice (ground) - optional
1 tablespoon chives

In a medium pot on low heat melt the butter. Add the shallot and sauté until soft and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Turn heat up to medium-low and add the mushrooms. Cook to bring out their flavor, about 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and tomatoes; continue to saute for another 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often. Once the mushrooms begin to release their cooking liquid add the flour slowly and stir to create a roux to thicken the soup.

Add the stock, oil, spices, and herbs (except the chives) and bring to a boil. Once the soup has reached a boil reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes to blend the flavors.

Puree the soup in a food processor or blender and return it to the pot. Add the remaining wild mushrooms along with the soy milk or cream. Heat another 10 minutes to warm the soup through. Garnish with chives.

Total sodium: approximately 60-80 mg of sodium per pot, resulting in roughly 15-40mg per serving.

Posted by on October 16, 2006 6:54 AM | Permalink

Comments

I am looking forward to trying some of your recipes.

In Australia we lack some of the specilised low sodium products but at least we have the sodium per 100g on everything.

Posted by: Peter Chamberlain | November 1, 2006 11:29 PM

Peter: I'd love to hear how they work out for you! The trick I've found when the special $4/pint sodium-free version is not available is simply to recreate it from scratch. True, with things that are inherently salt-based (e.g. tamari, fish sauce) you're out of luck, but the rest simply can usually be recreated at home in a sodium-free (or nearly so) mode simply by spending a little effort. If 60mg/serving chicken broth isn't available, buy a bunch of veggies and make your own stock, which will probably come out to 10mg per serving, and also probably taste ten times better than anything store-bought!

I'd also be curious about what specific items aren't available in Australia, especially in today's era of a global economy and FedEx Worldwide (of course, getting bottles or cans of anything shipped from the US to Australia might be so ludicrously expensive that it's effectively unavailable, even if www.healthyheartmarket.com has the item available. (Nothing against healthyheartmarket.com, but they cite that they simply surcharge UPS rates by $2, and it appears that sending a mere 5 lb package to Australia via UPS costs $98. I would agree that a $100 surcharge per order is preposterous!)

Posted by: Scott Swanson | November 6, 2006 9:58 PM