Mushroom Mania 2014, Vino Ristorante & Roasted Mushroom & Cauliflower Soup!

July is one of my favourite months. I enjoy the cooler weather, the dark rainy days give me the perfect excuse to hunker down in front of the fire with a book and it’s also Mushroom Mania month. Actually, I don’t ever need an excuse to eat mushrooms. They are tasty, nutritious and easy to prepare. One of my favourite lunches when home is simply lots of Swiss Brown mushrooms sliced and fried up in (quite a lot of) butter and served on my home made bread with some fresh goats curd. My idea of heaven and almost guilt-free (if you ignore the amount of butter I use 😉 ).

Mushroom Mania is a hugely successful, national promotion  aimed at spreading the word about how great tasting and great for you mushrooms are. This is a promotion I’m very happy to support as it also supports local mushroom growers – and I love local food. This year the Mushroom Growers Association is sharing the love and you can win one of 30 $100 gift cards just by sharing a mushroom meal you discover. All you really need for this is a smart phone or camera and an appetite for mushrooms! The promotion runs until 31 July, 2014 and all of the details are here, so get yourself over to their site and check out the very simple rules.

Just to get myself into the mushie mood, I headed out for lunch the other day and found myself at Vino Ristorante in beautiful, downtown Unley. Vino are long-time participants in Mushroom Mania and really get into the swing of things by offering a special mushroom menu for the month of July. This menu didn’t disappoint and my best friend and I rolled out of there completely replete, having surprised ourselves by consuming four delicious dishes between us. The mushroom menu at Vino has at least eight divine and different mushroomy ways to seduce you, so check it out.

Of course, if you can’t get out to eat, there’s nothing stopping you from whipping up something at home and, with that in mind, the guys at Mushroom Mania have kindly given me a recipe to share with my readers. This Roasted Mushroom and Cauliflower Soup is absolutely to die for, and easy enough for a novice cook to make. For more mushroom recipes than you ever dreamed possible, head over to the Power of Mushrooms recipe page and get inspired.

Roasted Mushroom & Cauliflower Soup

Mushroom Growers Association

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Soup

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 small 600g cauliflower, trimmed, chopped
• 500 g cup mushrooms sliced
• 4 tbs olive oil
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1 leek halved lengthways, thinly sliced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• ½ cup flat-leaf parsley chopped

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan forced.
• Scatter cauliflower over base of a greased roasting pan and mushrooms into another pan. Drizzle 1½ tablespoons of oil over each pan and then sprinkle each pan with 1½ teaspoons curry powder, season and turn to coat. Place cauliflower on top shelf and mushrooms underneath in oven, roast both for 20-25 minutes until tender.
• Heat remaining oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leek. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until soft.
• Pour over stock and bring to the boil.
• Add roasted cauliflower and mushrooms and return to the boil.
• Remove from the heat. Blend or process soup, in batches, to desired consistency. Stir in parsley, taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle into warm bowls.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Lambs’ Ears and Honey dined compliments of the Mushroom Growers Association.