Every bite of this luxurious, dairy-free, gluten-free soup is full of mushroom flavor. Fresh thyme and a dash of cider add an elegant twist to classic Cream of Mushroom. Best of all, it’s ready from scratch in 30 minutes.
Put 3 cups of water and all the raw mushrooms in a blender. Cover securely. Pulse briefly a few strokes on high to chop mushrooms. It's easy to over-chop them, so make sure to start and stop the pulse quickly to keep chunks of mushroom. If a few mushrooms float on top, push them down to bottom of blender.
Strain mushrooms, reserving the mushroom water. Set chopped mushrooms aside and return mushroom water to the blender. Add raw cashews and remaining cup of water to blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes until very smooth.
Heat olive oil in a soup pot and saute onion until tender. Add garlic, mushrooms and salt. Cook for 10 minutes.
Stir in cider, pepper, thyme and cashew cream. Turn heat up a little. Cook, stirring constantly to keep bottom from burning. Once soup comes to a boil and thickens, remove from heat.
Garnish with fresh thyme leaves and red chili flake if desired. Yum!
Notes
The fresher and firmer your mushrooms, the better the soup. Your cider can be sparkling or not. You can substitute dried thyme if needed, but fresh is so much tastier! When substituting dried herbs for fresh, use one third to one fourth the amount.