Blenditarian Challenge Series

Everyone has their own favourite soup recipe, whether brothy or thick and chunky. My favourite at this time of year is the thick, wholesome variety. This Blenditarian Hamburger Soup is all of that and more. My version is chock-a-block full of mushrooms, aromatic vegetables and also includes lentils and barley for a hearty bowlful of comfort food – a complete meal in a bowl.

To backtrack a bit: Blenditarian.Com has initiated a monthly challenge for anyone to incorporate their Blenditarian approach into interesting and fun themed dishes.  Just to clarify for my readers, a Blenditarian is “one who believes the mighty, meaty mushroom makes meals more delicious, nutritious and sustainable.”  This approach stretches ground meat with finely chopped mushrooms to create a flavourful and more nutritious dish. The theme for the March Blenditarian Challenge is to cook up a “family favourite” dish and include ‘The Blend’. For this reason, I am sharing my recipe for Blenditarian Hamburger Soup, which is our family favourite.

Skip to Soup Recipe

Skip to Print Recipe

Skip to Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend

The first Blenditarian recipe on this blog was my Blenditarian Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend. I use my Blenditarian Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend to create recipes that are easy, nutritious and quick to prepare, including this Blenditarian Hamburger Soup. Look for more Urb’n’Spice recipes upcoming in this Blenditarian Challenge Series.

Blenditarian Hamburger Soup

Yield:  10 hearty servings (approximately 3 litres )

CHEF TALK: For this Blenditarian Hamburger Soup, I use one 1 lb. package of my Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend.  This blend (or base) can be used in a number of different recipes, such as last month’s Date Night Spaghetti Sauce and many upcoming recipes such as Blenditarian Lasagna, Sloppy Joes, Blenditarian Meat Turnovers and more. You will find the recipe for Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend following this featured Blenditarian Hamburger Soup recipe. 

To practice knife cutting skills, I have included a different way to cut the rutabaga, which is called paysanne cut – they look a lot like scrabble pieces and give the soup an interesting combination of textures and appearance.  Follow this link to learn how to do it.  The soup freezes very well. For a gluten-free version, omit the barley. Substitute whole sorghum grain or brown rice for the barley. I can assure you that you will enjoy making this hearty soup and enjoy eating it even more.  I like to make this Blenditarian Hamburger Soup for #soupitforward events.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 1  – 1 lb. (454 g) package Blenditarian Savoury Meat, Mushroom and Vegetable Blend (see recipe below)
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 1/4 cups, diced)
• 2 large carrots or 3 medium, diced (1 1/2 to 2 cups, diced)
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tablespoon, minced)
• 2 cups chopped rutabaga, paysanne cut, or chopped
• 2 cups shredded cabbage (about 1/4 small head of cabbage)
• ¾ cup red lentils, rinsed
• ¼ cup pearl barley, rinsed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 – 4 tablespoons (30 – 60 ml) tomato paste
• 1 – 2 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 teaspoons beef bouillion paste)
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Worcestershire sauce
• 6 – 8 cups (1.5 – 2 litres) beef broth
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground black pepper
• Garnish: 1 tablespoon (15 ml) chopped fresh parsley

METHOD:

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil. Add the vegetables: onion, carrots, celery, garlic, rutabaga and cabbage. Cook over low to medium heat until the vegetables are translucent (about five minutes).
2. Add the lentils and barley, bay leaves, dried herbs, tomato paste, beef bouillon paste, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth. Cook over low heat (simmer) for 1 hour. Remove the bay leaves and discard.  Taste the soup for seasoning and tweak (see LEARNING TIPS below) adding salt and pepper, as necessary, according to your taste.
3. Serve immediately, refrigerating any leftovers. The soup tastes even better the next day. For longer storage, freeze the soup in well-sealed containers or vacuum-sealed bags.

Following is the original recipe for my version of Blenditarian Blend. The meat, mushroom and vegetable blend is portioned into 1 lb. bags ready for the freezer reserve and for making dishes such as this Blenditarian Hamburger Soup.

SAVOURY MEAT, MUSHROOM AND VEGETABLE BLEND

Yield: 1575 g cooked product (approximately 3.5 lbs.) These are portioned into 1 lb. (454 g) bags and frozen for further use, such as Blenditarian Hamburger Soup

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. (454 g) lean ground beef
• 1 lb. (454 g) ground pork
• ¼ cup dried vegetable flakes, optional but recommended
• 1 lb. (454 g) Cremini or Portobello mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1 large onion (250 g), chopped finely (about 1 ½ cups chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (15 g), minced finely
• 2 stalks celery (175 – 200 g), chopped finely (about 1 cup chopped)
• ½ small rutabaga(300 g), chopped finely (about 2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots (175 g), chopped finely (about 2 cups chopped)
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 – 4 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

METHOD:

1. Place the ground meat into a 6 to 7-quart crockpot. Season with of the half of the salt and pepper.
2. Using a food processor, chop the vegetables finely and add them to the slow cooker/crockpot.
3. Add the remaining salt and pepper, in addition to the remaining ingredients.
4. Stir the mixture very well.
5. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or6 – 8 hours on low.
6. Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary. It should be seasoned well, savoury and flavourful. Remember that this is a base and other ingredients will be added to it to make other dishes (i.e.: diced tomatoes, chilli powder, etc.).
7. Drain the mixture, if necessary. CHEF TIP: Refrigerate any drained liquid in a separate small bowl. The next day, de-fat the liquid by lifting off and discarding the hardened fat. The remaining liquid will be gel-like. Add some or all of the liquid back into the mixture for extra moisture.
8. Portion the seasoned meat blend into 1 lb. (454 g) portions and place in a zipper bag or vacuum sealer bags. Close tightly or vacuum seal, date, label, and freeze on a flat baking tray.

 

 

You Might Also Enjoy These Recipes:

Date Night Spaghetti Sauce

The Vintage Family Bean Pot

My Mom’s French Canadian Tourtiere

LEARNING TIPS:  

Please CLICK the link above to access my UrbnSpice LEARNING TIPS, which are listed alphabetically on the Learning Tips blog post under the following subheadings:

• Ice Baths
• Tweaking – Flavour Amendment
• Basic Tools – The Simple Spatula
  __________

If you try my recipe for Blenditarian Hamburger Soup, please leave me a comment below with your feedback.

You can find me on social media (see links below) – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy! 

 

Denise Paré-Watson

The Urbnspice Chef

Follow me on Social Media

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram