Lobster Mushroom Bisque. Obviously this one is a fun, vegan twist on lobster bisque. Grab a bunch of lobster mushrooms, some herbs and at least two glasses of white wine and let’s jump in.

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and we can talk about our favorite soups.

The Lobster Mushroom Bisque. Now with 100% less crustacean!

LOBSTER MUSHROOM BISQUE

prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 90 minutes

More soup.

This recipe requires you to lay down a mirepoix and basically turn it into a roux before making it into a broth. That last one was a lot less French. Then you hydrate lobster mushrooms in the broth and simmer out.

To start, the mirepoix…which is fancy talk for diced carrots, onions and celery. I added shallot and garlic into the mix too for depth.

What you’ll need:

carrots
yellow onion
celery
shallot (optional)
garlic
olive oil
vegan butter

Because we’re not using premade broth today, your vegetables will be doing some heavy lifting hence the abundance as opposed to a traditional lobster bisque.

Dice up one yellow onion, three stalks of celery, and four carrots. In a big pot, add a generous splash of olive oil. Bring the flame up to medium low. You don’t want to brown the veggies here.

Add your diced vegetable medley (aka mirepoix) to the oil and give it a quick stir. Once you can smell what the rock is cooking, dice up a little garlic and shallot and throw that in the mix too. Add a knob of vegan butter to your preference. Give everything another stir and let that cook out for five minutes.

Next, you’re going to introduce some personality to what will be your broth. You’re going to add seasonings, some white wine (or vinegar) along with a little tomato paste and flour. This will function as your roux (aka French word number two.)

What you’ll need:

salt
pepper
thyme
tarragon
white wine
tomato paste
old bay
soy sauce
all purpose flour
bay leaves

I didn’t take many pictures here so bear with me.

Into your delicious-smelling, aromatic pile of buttered veggies — add a generous pinch of salt, a few cracks of black pepper and a tablespoon of old bay. We have to make up for seafood flavors in any way we can.

Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and give that a stir. Sieve one tablespoon of flour into the mix. Give that a nice stir too.

Now get out a bottle of white wine and toss a glass of it into the pot and pour yourself one too - hey. If you don’t use white wine, you can add the juice of a lemon and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

Cook the wine (or vinegar) down and be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. Now toss in a few sprigs of thyme and tarragon if you have them on deck, a nice dash of soy sauce (or comparable) and now we’re going to introduce the dried lobster mushrooms…and water.

What you’ll need:

dried lobster mushrooms (2 oz)
water
maybe another glass of wine
oat creamer (or soy)

Into your pot add all of the dried lobster mushrooms. Stir that around for a second and then you can add 40 oz of water to the pot.

Scrape the sides of the pot down into the broth like I didn’t do in the picture. Bring up to a gentle simmer, so like medium flame. Oh yeah, toss a few bay leaves in there too.

Slowly bring this all up to a boil and once it’s boiling, you’re going to leave it boil for about 8-10 minutes to expedite the hydration of the mushrooms. After that, drop the flame back down to a simmer and cover the pot for one hour.

After your hour has gone by, it’s time to blend this all up.

Fish out your herbs and bay leaves. Fish out maybe five or six of the mushrooms too and set aside for later. And in batches, add your mixture to a blender. Blend in batches and set aside. Once you’ve blended all of your soup, give the big pot you were using a wipe to clean off any chunks. Take your new blended batch of soup and pour it through a strainer back into its original pot.

(I used an immersion blender the first take and it didn't go as well as planned.)

Bring the heat back up to a simmer on your pot. Add a pinch of salt and crack some pepper in there. Add a half cup of oat creamer or soy creamer or something. You can do a nice swirl on top of the finished soup if you want, but I didn’t do that for this one.

Now you’re going to bring it all home. Next you’re preparing your toppings and plating…bowling?

What you’ll need:

green onions (or chives)
parsley (optional)
lobster mushrooms set aside earlier

Add your soup into a bowl, add a few of the lobster mushrooms you set aside earlier and toss some garnish up on there.

Look at that. Vegan Lobster Mushroom Bisque.