Lena's Hungarian Mushroom Soup -- #recipe by @LeslieBudewitz (2024)

LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Time for another recipe from Between a Wok and a Dead Place, the latest Spice Shop mystery. The book came out in July, but that's not soup season! And I didn't want to share this in the heat of summer, when you might forget it. You need it now.

The way immigrant communities use food to retain and express their cultural identity is a recurrent theme or motif in Wok, set at the Lunar New Year in Seattle's Chinatown-International District. Pepper's maternal grandparents came to Seattle from Hungary in the early 1950s, before her mother, Lena, and Lena's younger sisters were born. And of course, they brought their food and all its traditions with them. Here's what Pepper says:

"I remembered how my Hungarian immigrant grandparents insisted on the traditional dishes for family gatherings. My mother had been influenced by the whole wheat and vegetarian movement of the 1970s, but on Sundays, she and my grandma made goulash and chicken paprikash and insanely good mushroom soup. Sour cream on everything. Once, when my brother was sick, Grandma brought over poppy seed bread pudding—her cure-all—but he couldn’t keep anything down so Mom and I ate it ourselves. She made me promise not to tell and I never had.

The seeds of my obsession with food, and spice, had been sown early."

It's a simple recipe, quick and easy enough for a weeknight dinner. Use a mix of mushrooms for optimal flavor. Pepper won't mind if you splash a bit of red wine in with them, for added depth. The dish is easily made into a stew, with a little flour, served over egg noodles.

Almost makes you want to be Hungarian, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

Lena’s Hungarian Mushroom Soup (from Between a Wok and a Dead Place)

Nothing says comfort like soup, especially the soup your mother made. Lena’s immigrant mother made this soup for her and her sisters whenever they were sick, but Lena and Pepper make it any time they long for a little old-world flavor. Adjust the spices based on your preference and the strength of your paprika. To serve over noodles, make a stew by thickening the roux with an extra tablespoon of flour, then boil up a pot of wide egg noodles while the stew simmers.

2 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

12 ounces cremini or white button mushrooms, or a mix, sliced

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour (more for a stew)

1 cup milk (whole or 2%)

2 cups beef broth

1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce

1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika

1-1/2 teaspoons dried dill or 1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup sour cream

chopped dill or parsley, for garnish

extra sour cream, for serving

egg noodles, for a stew

In a heavy stockpot or Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the onions and cook until translucent and just beginning to brown, 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms begin to release their juices, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add the flour, stirring continuously for 4-5 minutes or until the mixture is a rich, caramelized brown. Add the milk, broth, and soy sauce, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Add the paprika, dill, salt, and pepper. Stir in the mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you’re using noodles, cook them now.

Stir in the sour cream and heat through.

Ladle into soup bowls or over noodles in pasta bowls. Garnish with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped dill. Serve with a green salad, crusty bread, and your favorite red wine.

Enjoy!