Mushroom, Spinach and Ginger Soup
Seasonal veggies for this healthy soup, courtesy of John Turenne.
If you’ve read the Hospital Food interview with Jamie Harvie and John Turenne, you’ll have heard about how important it is to eat food that not only nourishes, but also helps heal the body. John Turenne is a chef and the mind behind Sustainable Food Systems, LLC- his consulting and technical services company that employs locally grown and ecologically conscious food programs as the cornerstone to his solutions. As Executive Chef for Aramark at Yale University, John changed the college’s conventional kitchen into a sustainable one. To read more about John’s fascinating career and transition, click here.
For Food Trends readers looking to beat a spring/summer cold (or flu), help keep your immune system in high gear, or simply enjoy a bowl of beautiful, healthy soup, here is his Mushroom, Spinach and Ginger Soup. The added bonus- all of the ingredients are in season, can be purchased from local growers which means they’ll be fresh and taste terrific.
Garlic, or “the great protector” in some botanical circles, was routinely used by ancient Egyptians to help treat everything from wounds to intestinal parasites. Ginger, always favoured by traditional Chinese medicine, is still used today to treat coughs, abdominal bloating and arthritis. So make a pot of John’s soup, cozy up with a good book and enjoy a bowl of soup that’s good for you and good for the local farmers who helped bring the spinach, onions and mushrooms and other veggies to your table.
Mushroom, Spinach and Ginger Soup
Serves 12
"Springtime is a great time for fresh greens like spinach, ramps (wild leeks), spring onions and mushrooms. Add fresh garlic and ginger and you’ve made this a fresh, light seasonal soup that becomes a slightly exotic and very healing broth," says John.
Ingredients:
- 4 Tbl. Olive oil
- 16 oz. Fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
- 12 ea. Scallions, sliced and separate the white and green part (if you can get fresh ramps – wild leeks, use these, but not the green leaves)
- 1 – 5” piece Ginger, peeled & sliced very thin
- 6 ea. Garlic cloves, minced
- 3 qts. Chicken or vegetable stock (home made if possible)
- 8 oz. Fresh spinach, washed and thinly sliced
- To Taste- Kosher Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Recipe Method:
In a heavy pot, heat oil and sauté the mushrooms until golden, about 5or 6 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove mushrooms and add scallions bottoms, garlic and ginger and sauté 1 minute.
Add chicken or vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium/low and lightly simmer for 25 minutes. Add mushrooms, bring to simmer for 5 more minutes, add spinach and scallion tops. Simmer until spinach wilts.
Season to taste with Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Note: Any variety of mushrooms will work here. If you wish to mix several different kinds, that’s ok. Just remember to clean very well and that different varieties may take different amounts of time to cook.
