Polish Christmas Mushroom Soup {Wigilijna Zupa Grzybowa}

Anna

7 years ago

78 / 100

Polish Christmas Mushroom Soup {Wigilijna Zupa Grzybowa}

The difference between Christmas mushroom soup [zoo-pah g-rzyh-boh-vah vee-gee-leey-nah] and “regular” mushroom soup is that Christmas mushroom soup is vegetarian. As a matter of fact, all 12 dishes served at Polish Christmas Eve dinner are meatless or made with fish (we don’t consider fish meat). The 12 dishes represent the 12 Apostles and mark the beginning of Christmas festivities with the most important dinner of this holiday. As soon as the first star is spotted on a dark December night sky, we’re ready to share the opłatek (a thin wafer, resembling a communion wafer) wishing each other good health, happiness and good fortune. After that we proceed to the table filled with steaming soups, pierogi, herring, and more.

The 12 dishes may vary from home to home. My family mainly eats only beetroot broth with mushroom-filled dumplings, but many families opt for a small portion of wild mushroom soup instead, and some do both. Only a small portion of either soup will be served, to save room for the remaining 11 dishes.

Wild mushroom soup is a clear soup, nothing but mushrooms in it. Broth is bold and mushroomy, and lightly creamy.

Polish Christmas Mushroom Soup {Wigilijna Zupa Grzybowa}

Yields: 5-6 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes + soaking
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 oz / 30 g / 1 c of dried wild mushrooms*
1 ½ c / 350 ml of water for soaking
6 c / 1 ½ l of vegetable broth (or 6 c of water and the next 4 ingredients)
2 carrots
½ of celery root
¼ of an onion
1 parsnip or parsley root
6 whole peppercorns and allspice berries (each)
3 bay leaves
Salt (careful if using broth that may contain salt already)
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of heavy cream

Instructions

Soak wild mushrooms overnight (or at least 4 hours).
The next day, place mushrooms, with the water they were soaking in, in a medium pot. Add broth (or water and vegetables), spices and a pinch of salt. Boil covered on low for 30 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.
When wild mushrooms are cooked, strain everything out, reserve the liquid broth. Remove the vegetables (save to make a Polish vegetable salad "sałatka jarzynowa"), and, once the mushrooms cool, dice them and return to broth.
To cream add a bit of broth to temper it. Add cream to soup and heat through. Taste, add salt if needed and a sprinkle of fresh ground pepper.
Finish by adding butter for extra flavor.