Mushroom Farro Soup

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This mushroom farro soup recipe was born out of a "could I make this at home?" moment during a week-long stay at the Boston Children's Hospital. Despite being there for a big family surgery that was scary and intense, the soup at a vegetarian restaurant down the road gave us a yummy cozy feeling that made it all better for a few minutes.

Inspirational credit for this soup goes to Clover Food Lab, a restaurant we highly recommend visiting if you ever find yourself near one of their Boston locations! Thank you Clover, for making us feel at home during a stressful week.

Of course, we didn't ask for the recipe while we were there so we had to use our own deductive reasoning and a few trial and error attempts to arrive at something that we felt was equally delicious (or at least a close second) to what we tried at Clover Food Lab.

We hope it is as heartwarming for you as it was for us when our hearts definitely needed warming.

Recipe: Mushroom and Farro Soup

Ingredients:

½ cup dried farro (or 1 to 1 ¼ cups cooked farro)

2-3 T olive oil

1 large carrot, small dice

4 stalks celery, small dice

1 medium onion, small dice

4-5 mushrooms, small dice

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T butter *

¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dry white wine

1 quart stock (vegetable, mushroom, or chicken)

1 tsp dried rosemary leaves, ground or minced

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 ½ tsp dried parsley

¼- ½ cup sour cream (optional)

3 T fresh parsley, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Cook the farro. In a 1-quart pot, bring 3 cups water to the boil. Season with 2 teaspoons salt. Add dried farro, bring back to the boil then cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook until al dente, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cook the vegetables. In 3-quart stockpot, warm olive oil and then add carrot, celery, onion, mushroom, garlic. Sauté gently until vegetables are soft and opaque and mushrooms have released their juices, about 10 minutes. Remove vegetables from stockpot and set aside.

3. Make the soup base. In same 3-quart stockpot, make the roux. Add butter over medium-low heat. When butter is melted and bubbling, whisk in flour until incorporated into a dry paste. Whisk roux until lightly browned. Whisk in wine until incorporated, then slowly whisk in stock, a few tablespoons at a time, allowing mixture to reheat in-between each addition of liquid**. Do not add additional liquid until previous addition is fully incorporated or flour may clump in broth. Continue until all of the stock is added. Stir in cooked vegetables, dried herbs, and cooked farro. Gently simmer for 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to come together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If a creamier soup base is desired, whisk in sour cream and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve hot with chopped fresh parsley as garnish.

* for a vegan alternative, substitute olive oil for butter and omit sour cream.

** Note: Broth process will go more quickly if stock is pre-heated to a simmer before adding to roux.