Rich and creamy, homemade mushroom soup with tender, gluten-free lamb meatballs.
For the soup base, stew together: one four-ounce container each of shiitake and crimini mushrooms, 1 large sliced leek, 2 cups of chicken stock, one cup of lamb stock, 4 large cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of butter, and a sprig or two of fresh thyme. When the ingredients are very soft, the leeks just about disintegrated, and the liquid reduced by half, an immersion blender is used to smooth out the soup.
A one-ounce assortment of dried, (rehydrated) mushrooms were added after blending, for their interesting shapes and for the complex flavors they contribute. There were black trumpets, crimini, portabellas, porcini, and a couple half-moon shapes that I've never seen before.
One pint of heavy cream is added, and the salt adjusted. Set aside and make the meatballs.
Meatballs recipe.
The secret ingredient is: 4 tablespoons of pine nuts, sauteed on low heat until golden in 1/2 Tb. butter and processed in the chopper. The pine nuts are replacing the gf breadcrumbs in my standard meatball recipe. Nuts absorb liquid, not as well as dried bread, but in a fashion and with similar toasty flavors.
Mix together: one large onion, grated; 7 ounces of grated Tomme Collins cheese (or any hard grating cheese), 4 large cloves of garlic, grated; two eggs, two pounds of ground lamb, one tsp. of salt and two tsp. of black pepper. Microwave a test meatball for seasoning.
Refrigerate 40 minutes, so that the meat, cheese, and nuts can absorb the liquids and become cohesive. The small amount of salt will also tighten the mixture.
The goal was to create rich, complementary flavors that supported, but did not mask the delicate flavor of the lamb. It was a success, and certainly something I will be making again.
This recipe makes four cups of soup and 50-60 meatballs. That is twice as many as necessary; I wanted to try them with other sauces the following day.
