Roasted Mushroom, Chickpea & Orzo Vegetable Soup
I don’t know what my deal is lately, but I have been craving soup and making it at least 2 times a week. Luckily, my poor boyfriend is nice enough to smile and eat his heart out no matter what I cook, so I can get away with doing this :). I guess that is the nice thing about it being winter. I don’t know if you saw some of my other recent posts, but during the week I am trying to eat a lot less meat, and substituting other proteins in pretty much all of my meals – tofu, seitan, etc. (I guess this is why I have been loving soups so much, it is so easy to skip out on the meat). So, when my girlfriend that was doing the same thing came over, we came up with this gem of a soup, and oh was it incredible!
I had just finished soaking chickpeas overnight so that I could experiment with some new recipes, and we ended up having a bunch left over which we didn’t know what to do with. So what do I do? I say lets make it into a soup! And we did… and it was to die for!! I had to go back and re-make this recipe because the first time I didn’t measure, we just kept throwing things in. So the second time around, I roasted some shitake mushrooms I had lying around and they added so much flavor. You can really add anything you want to this soup – bok choy, rice, tofu, meat, other veggies, etc., the options are endless.
The one thing that I wanted to do with this recipe was to make it really healthy, vegetarian, and also packed with flavor. Since I wasn’t using chicken stock, and vegetable stock to me wasn’t going to add enough flavor, I used Osem soup and seasoning mix – this stuff is like crack. If you haven’t tried it before, you will thank me. Also, the porcini buillon cubes I found are pretty incredible. I also use them to shave onto rice, risotto, and pasta for great flavor. If you are a mushroom love these are a must have!
Just looking at these pictures is making me crave this right now! Especially for all of you in the Northeast stuck in the snowstorms – I feel for you! Take whatever veggies you have lying around, make yourself some of this warm soup, and cozy up by your heaters!
If you make this recipe, be sure to hashtag #ATastyMess on social media so I can see your creations!
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 6 carrots, chopped
- 6 stalks of celery, chopped
- ½ onion, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- garlic powder (1/2 tsp.)
- 2 cups shitake mushrooms, chopped
- fresh thyme, 1 tsp.
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 cups water
- 1 porcini buillon cube
- 5 tbsp. osom
- 3 tbsp. umami powder (you can buy on my site, optional ingredient)
- 1 package enoki mushrooms
- 3 cups chickpeas (either canned or fresh that have been soaked overnight and boiled)
- 2 cups orzo, rinsed
- ¼ tsp. truffle salt (optional)
- ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Season chopped shitake mushrooms with about 1 tbsp. olive oil, salt, pepper, and about 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves. Place the mushrooms in a small baking dish, and roast for about 20 minutes, then remove and set aside. While the mushrooms are roasting, you can begin the next step.
- In a large soup pot heat up about 2 tbsp. olive oil and saute garlic, carrots, celery, and onion. olive oil until they are al dente. Season with salt and pepper, about ½ tsp. of each. Once the veggies are a little bit soft but still have a bite, go ahead and in the rest of the ingredients - add in the bay leaf, water, buillon cube, osom, umami powder, enoki and shitake mushrooms, chickpeas, orzo, truffle salt, red pepper flakes, and fresh thyme. Bring the soup up to a boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes, until the orzo is cooked.
- Test for seasoning, you can adjust salt and pepper to your taste. Enjoy!
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