A special dedication to my mom
This recipe dates back to childhood. It was a favorite of my sister Joyce and I. Funny, I haven’t thought about this soup in all of forever but recently I had a dream that we were all sitting around the dining room table and mom was serving this soup. Isn’t that crazy how past memories way back from childhood resurface during the deep of REM? In the dream I remember Joyce being the taste tester as mom gradually added more and more vinegar until the perfect level of sourness was achieved. I was always jealous of that. I mean why was Joyce always the taste tester???
The original recipe was from the Slovak-American cookbook that mom lovingly bought for each of her three girls. She made some changes though. Intead of saurkraut juice she used white vinegar. My mom was smart. Saurkraut juice is freakin high in sodium. She also added Acini De Pepe “stones of grape” pasta which gave the soup more substance. Three additional change that I made were, instead of using butter to make the roux, I used extra virgin olive oil. Now I know this blog is about no salt, oil or sugar but this is one recipe I had to make a compromise. The second change I made was using whole wheat flour instead of white flour. The last change was I added an extra cup of water to account for the pasta . Despite the changes I made I honestly feel the final product was a 100% match to my childhood soup.
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh white mushrooms
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. flour
- White vinegar to taste
- 1 – 2 tsps. ground black pepper
- 1/3 onion
- 3/4 cup Acini De Pepe pasta
- 5 cups water
Directions
- Wash mushrooms then cut up in small pieces. Cook in 1 quart water until tender. Do not discard the mushroom water. Add the pepper.
- Brown flour in olive oil until light brown. Add the onions and brown. Add 1/4 cup water, bring to a boil while stirring. Strain. Add to the mushrooms and mushroom water. Simmer for a couple minutes.
- Add the Acini De Pepe pasta and simmer 10 more minutes (or until the pasta is cooked).
- Slowly add the white vinegar 1 tbsp. at a time until desired sour level is achieved.
