Mushroom Consommé with Mushroom Onion Dumpling

This is a relatively easy and lite recipe I came up with for my mushroom-loving friends. When I say mushroom-loving, it means that it is indeed very mushroomie and you really have to love them to like this soup. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The was the soup course from the Vegetarian Valentine’s Dinner. Of course, I eyeballed this recipe, so the measurements are vague. By using dehydrated mushrooms you will get a mushroom stock from the hydrating liquid that compares to none. Costco sells a giant tub of dehydrated field shrooms for a reasonable cost, or you can buy them from the grocery store for a small fortune. I like the mix Costco has. Some Asian markets also sell interesting dried shrooms, but you have to be a little daring.

Serve 4 smallish soup bowls (1 1/2 cups each).

Just a light broth with some Valentine dumplings. Who are you calling dumpling?

Ingredients:

• about 1 cup of dyhydrated field mushrooms soaked overnight in about 5 cups of water. You will want to put a cover on this otherwise your entire house will smell of the shroom!
• about 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1 clove garlic finely minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp of cognac per serving
• 4 sheets of wonton paper
• Egg white as glue

Directions:

1. Through a fine sieve or coffee filter, strain the mushroom water to capture any loose sand. Wash the mushrooms well under cold water.
2. Melt butter in a sauce pan, add onions and sauté until translucent. Add mushrooms and the garlic and sauté a bit more.
3. Add the mushroom water and the soy sauce and simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. Strain the mushrooms, garlic and onion from the liquid and return to the pan.
5. With a small food processor, process the mushrooms, onion and garlic with the Parmesan cheese. Taste and salt as needed.
6. Taking a heart-shaped cookie cutter about 6 cm in diametre, cut out 8 heart shapes. Place a small teaspoon of the puréed mushroom mix into the centre of each heart. Brush egg white along the edges and seal with a second heart directly over top. Seal well with the tines of a fork. Repeat until you have finished 8 of these little dumplings.
7. Boil about 4 cups of water with a sprinkling of salt. Drop each dumpling into the water and cook until they float to the surface. Remove from the water and add two into each bowl of mushroom consommé. Enjoy while hot
   

   I HEART U

   Note: for the photo I actually had to prop up the dumplings because they sank to the bottom like lead. You’ll have to tell your guests they have heart-shaped dumplings in the soup…

Thanks to Charles who pointed out (very subtly) my typo on the word consommé. I have corrected it now.

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