Plants Only Kitchen is an absolutely beautifully-presented cookery book – full of innovative ideas to boost your veggie recipes. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian or even a dedicated meat-lover there is a recipe to inspire your taste buds.

I like the idea of the inclusion of specific helpful recipe icons at the beginning of each recipe, with cooking times and difficulty rating. The content pages are well laid out with clear, definitive chapter headings, like Brunch and Powerful Curries.

The photography is sharp, clever and very creative with nice personal touches from the author himself.

Flicking through this cookery book I decided to try the Creamy Mushroom Soup. The attraction to this recipe was the addition of lots of lovely herbs – Tarragon, thyme and bay leaf.

Recipe adapted from Plants Only Kitchen by Gaz Oakley.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 tbsp dried tarragon

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 kg mixed mushrooms

240 ml vegan-friendly white wine

1-litre hot vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

240 ml soy or oat cream or coconut cream, plus a little extra for garnish

Juice of ½ lemon

Place a large saucepan over a low heat then add the oil. When hot add the onions, dried herbs, garlic and seasoning and saute the mixture for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. You want the onions lovely and golden.
Next, add almost all of the mushrooms to the pan. Reserve some to saute later or to use as a garnish.
Turn the to heat up to high and saute the mushrooms for at least 10 minutes, stirring regularly. It may look like too many mushrooms but once cooked they will have shrunk down a lot.
After the mushrooms are cooked, deglaze the pan by adding the wine. Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes before adding the vegetable stock and bay leaf.
Bring the soup to a simmer before stirring in your choice of milk (coconut, soy, or oat)
Let the soup bubble away for 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
Once ready, blitz the soup in your blender until it is smooth and taste for seasoning.
Saute the rest of the mushrooms until nice and golden brown. Garnish the soup with the mushrooms and finish with a few sprigs of fresh herbs.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

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Course Soup

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions sliced
4 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 tbsp dried tarragon
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 kg mixed mushrooms
240 ml vegan-friendly white wine
1- litre hot vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
240 ml soy or oat cream or coconut cream plus a little extra for garnish
Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions

Place a large saucepan over a low heat then add the oil. When hot add the onions, dried herbs, garlic and seasoning and saute the mixture for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. You want the onions lovely and golden.
Next, add almost all of the mushrooms to the pan. Reserve some to saute later or to use as a garnish.
Turn the to heat up to high and saute the mushrooms for at least 10 minutes, stirring regularly. It may look like too many mushrooms but once cooked they will have shrunk down a lot.
After the mushrooms are cooked, deglaze the pan by adding the wine. Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes before adding the vegetable stock and bay leaf.
Bring the soup to a simmer before stirring in your choice of milk (coconut, soy, or oat)
Let the soup bubble away for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Once ready, blitz the soup in your blender until it is smooth and taste for seasoning.
Saute the rest of the mushrooms until nice and golden brown. Garnish the soup with the mushrooms and finish with a few sprigs of fresh herbs.

Keyword soup, vegan

This is a deliciously robust soup – full of flavours. Mushrooms are incredibly versatile whichever type you choose (Portobello, chestnut, cap). Preparing mushrooms are so incredibly easy – wipe clean, add them to soups, salads, casseroles, pates etc. They are packed full of great nutrition with B vitamins and antioxidants like selenium. And mushrooms are one of the few vegetarian sources of vitamin D for strong bones and teeth. Give yourself an immune boost and try out this recipe from the Plants Only Kitchen cookery book.

Plants Only Kitchen by Gaz Oakley is published by Hardie Grant. Available from Amazon

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