What We Ate Wednesday--Alfredo Potato Soup with Bacon Mushrooms

Hello lovelies! Like so many people I dream about food. Do you do that too? Surely that can’t be just me.

I dream about food marriages--what would happen if Food A married Food B….what kind of Food Baby would they make?

This recipe was born out of one such dream.

I woke up and said to Spiderman, “What do you think would happen if I mixed my white bean alfredo sauce with potato soup?” This is the result of that.

It made a HUGE amount. 8 bowls in total. Well 7 bowls but I added some sweetcorn the next day to the soup which made it go to the full 8 servings. This could well be 8 meals for less greedy vegans but was only 4 meals for us because we each had two bowls every night.

I also topped it each night with Bacon Mushrooms. These savoury mushrooms are always a welcome addition to potato soup. You can find my recipe for them below:

Preheat your oven to 220C/425F.

Start by marinating your mushrooms for the bacon mushrooms in  a small bowl.

Marinade:
100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 5 mushrooms)
1 TB tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1. Scoop out the mushrooms from the marinade with a slotted spoon and bake them on parchment paper (or silicone mat) for 12 to 15 minutes. Reserve the marinade to add to the soup. 

If you do want to make the mushrooms, do it while the soup cooks and don’t forget to add your leftover marinade to the soup for an extra pop of flavour.

Alfredo Potato Soup

The soup:

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

800g white potatoes, diced (don’t bother to peel, the good bits are in the skin)

6 cups hot strong vegetable stock (I used regular powder stock, plus a glug of tamari/soy sauce and a teaspoon of Tesco brand marmite)  

1. In a big ole pot, cook the onion and carrot in a splash of water or oil until softened. Add in the potatoes and the hot stock and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile make your alfredo sauce.

For the sauce:
1 onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup  vegetable stock
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1 tin white beans, drained and rinsed (I used butter beans)
1 TB lemon juice
1/4 cup  nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan
1 cup unsweetened non dairy milk of choice (we did soya milk)
1/2 a tsp salt

1. Put the onions in a small pot  with the veggie stock and garlic and cook on med high. Cook until liquid is nearly absorbed, remove from heat and let cool for a minute or so.
2. Add to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients and blend until velvety smooth. The onion really thickens it up and add flavour.

3. When the potatoes are soft remove from the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup to your liking—we like it 80% smooth/20% chunky.

4. Add the alfredo sauce and gently reheat---not too high or the milk might split if it is soymilk.

5. If you made the bacon mushrooms throw some on top of your soup. Also if you made the bacon mushrooms, don’t forget to throw the leftover marinade into the soup for another flavour boost. If you didn’t make the bacon mushrooms then add 1 TB tamari/soy sauce, 1 tsp liquid smoke and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil to recreate that boost of flavah.

The second day I reheated what was left of the soup with an additional cup of defrosted frozen sweetcorn and more marinade from the bacon mushrooms.