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+ servings
Polish Christmas Eve mushroom soup in a beige bowl.
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5 from 1 vote

Polish Christmas Eve Mushroom Soup (Zupa Grzybowa Wigilijna)

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
soaking the mushrooms10 hours
Total Time11 hours
Servings: 6 servings
Author: Aleksandra

Ingredients

for the dried mushrooms:

  • 2 1/2 ounces (75g) dried porcini mushrooms
  • 3 cups water

for the vegetable broth:

  • 2 carrots
  • 2 parsley roots optional
  • a piece of celeriac or 2 ribs of celery
  • 1/2 leek
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 2 allspice berries
  • 2 bay leaves
  • a couple of parsley twigs
  • a couple of thyme twigs
  • 5 cups cold water

for the fresh sauteed mushrooms:

  • 2 tablespoons frying oil
  • 7 ounces (200g) cremini (baby bella) mushrooms
  • 1 medium onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
  • 2 tablespoons flour

additionally:

  • 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream
  • 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • chopped parsley to garnish
  • 12 ounces (340g) medium-sized pasta (such as bow ties) or egg noodles, to serve with the soup

Instructions

  • The day before: Add dried mushrooms to a large bowl with 3 cups of water (720ml). Leave to soak overnight (this is an important step, don´t omit it, you could pour boiling water over the mushrooms and soak them just for 30 minutes to soften them then they won´t have as much flavor as overnight-soaked mushrooms).
  • The next day: strain the mushrooms, reserve the soaking water! Chop the mushrooms into smaller (bite-sized) pieces (if they´re already small/chopped, leave them as they are).
  • Make vegetarian broth: Peel carrots, parsley roots, and celeriac. Cut in half lengthwise (don´t cut them into small pieces or it may be difficult to take them out off the broth later). Peel garlic cloves.
  • Peel the onion and cut in half, place it on the open flame of the burner and brown on all sides (it should be dark brown in color). If you have an electric stove, just place it in a dry pot that you will use for cooking the soup and heat until the onion is dark brown on all sides (when one side is browned, flip the onion on the other side). You could also use a creme brulee torch to brown the onion - it works very well.
  • Add all these vegetables, spices (black peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaves), parsley and thyme to a large pot. Add 5 cups of water (1200ml) and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add chopped dried mushrooms and mushroom soaking water (add the water slowly - very often at the bottom of the bowl there are some debris from the mushrooms and you don´t want to add that to your soup).
  • Bring the soup to a boil then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
  • Sautee fresh mushrooms: Dice the onion, finely chop garlic (with a knife, and not a garlic press), cut the mushrooms into slices. Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. When hot add the mushrooms, don´t stir for about 2 minutes letting the mushrooms brown, then start stirring and cook for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to low and add onions. Cook for a couple minutes until onions are soft. Add garlic, thyme, marjoram, and flour. Cook for a minute. Deglaze the pan with a small amount of soup, scraping with a spatula all the browned bits at the bottom of the pot.
  • Add the content of the pan to the pot with the soup. Bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Using kitchen tongs, discard onion, carrots, herbs, parsley roots, celeriac, and whole garlic cloves from the soup. Using a small sieve, try to remove the peppercorns, allspice berries, and bay leaves (don´t stress if you can´t take them all out, they will gather at the bottom of the pot).
  • Note: you could also cook the broth separately then strain it all through a sieve and then cook the mushrooms in the broth, but I prefer to cook it all in one pot at the same time and then just take the ´broth ingredients´ out of the pot when the broth is done cooking.
  • I like to reserve the carrots, slice them, and add them back to the soup.
  • In a food processor or using a hand blender, mix heavy cream with about 1/4 cup of the mushrooms from the soup. Add this mixture to the pot.
  • Season the soup with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
  • Cook pasta separately until al dente (soft, but it should still have a bite to it).
  • Serve the soup with the pasta. Stir in fresh chopped parsley.
  • The soup tastes better the next day. Store it separately from the pasta, combine just before serving.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

Calories = 1 serving (1/6 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!

Nutrition

Calories: 363kcal