Creamy Navy Bean, Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

Right after I finished making this soup, I was standing next to the stove, staring at it and thinking: “Oh my God, this has got to be the scariest, ugliest looking soup that I have ever seen.”

Before I started making it, I was envisioning this beautiful, light ivory beige creamy mushroom delight with some specks of black from the wild rice here and there.

What was now staring me in the face was this sort of khaki grey, really dense, almost porridge-like, looking mixture.

Seriously… Who’s ever want to eat a soup that color? Certainly not me! I mean really! Cadaver grey soup!

(Just curious, are you sold yet? I bet you’re dying to taste that wonderful soup, right? Right, I knew you were…)

Still, you know how I hate wasting food, so I figured I was gonna have to eat it anyway. I mean, it WAS food after all.

I took another look at it. God, what an ugly color. Unbelievable.

Bah, at least, it smelled good!

I let out this huge sigh and brought a spoon[not too]ful to my mouth, unsure of what to expect, half scared  that it would taste awful.

I swirled it around a little bit in my mouth, chewed some, chewed some more (there is a surprising amount of “chewing material” in that soup!) and finally swallowed.

WHOA! Hold the phone! Could that ugly thing right there really taste so good? Surely, there had been some kind of mistake. I must’ve taken a bite from the wrong pot… an imaginary one perhaps?

I plunged right back in and went for a spoon[plenty]ful this time.

Swirl, chew, chew, swallow. Same conclusion.

Reach for another spoonful, and another, oh, and one last one, just to make sure. Once I started eating it, I just couldn’t stop!

Let me tell you, the color of that soup may be off, but the taste… YUM! If you like mushrooms, you’re in for a ride! What you have here is a cream of mushrooms that really tastes like… MUSHROOMS!

It’s like a super concentrated blast of mushroom flavor with every single bite.

And I just love the texture that the navy beans and wild rice confer to the soup. They make it so thick, rich and consistent! At least, you don’t get the impression that you’re only eating soup for a meal and that it’ll leave you hungry again in a hour. This really feels like you are eating a super filling and satisfying meal.

And I can assure you that you will not be needing bread with that one.

Now I only wish that it didn’t have such an off color…

Maybe if I roasted the mushrooms next time, so they take more of a golden color?

Certainly worth a shot!

CREAMY NAVY BEAN, MUSHROOM AND WILD RICE SOUP

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 4)

• 1 small onion, diced
• 3-227g packs of button mushrooms, sliced
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp anise seeds
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp salted herbs
• 5 cups water
• 2 cups cooked navy beans
• 1 cup cooked wild rice
• ½ cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup soy milk

Garnish ideas (save a few tbsp from above ingredient list)

• Cooked beans
• Cooked rice
• Cooked mushrooms
• Yogurt / milk mixture

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large pot, heat a little bit of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, salt, pepper, Bay leaves and anise seeds and cook until fragrant and the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Take one cup of this mushroom mixture and set aside.
3. Add water, salted herbs and navy beans. Bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and process to a puree with an immersion blender.*
5. Add reserved mushrooms and process just to break them into tiny pieces.
6. Add cooked wild rice
7. Mix yogurt and milk together until smooth and well incorporated. Save ¼ cup of that mixture to drizzle on the soup before serving (that’ll help hide the ugly color!) and add the rest to the soup.
8. Mix until well blended.
9. Serve immediately and drizzle with yogurt / milk mixture. Garnish with cooked beans, cooked wild rice and / or cooked mushrooms and parsley, if desired

*If you don’t have an immersion blender, place half of the soup in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining soup but this time, when soup is nice and smooth, add reserved mushrooms and pulse a few times just to break them into tiny pieces. Return soup to pan.

Ugly color revealed!