Delicious and quick

After a meat-filled weekend up north celebrating Orthodox Christmas with my family, my mom wanted a simple meal for dinner—but she still wanted some Serbian flavours so I decided to make her a mushroom soup with a goulash twist. When my parents made goulash they used pork with onions and garlic, but I like the addition of celery, carrots and mushrooms to my goulash. We always served it with boiled potatoes and no cream. I chose not to add potatoes to my soup, although I did garnish it with a dollop of sour cream just because I had some on hand. My parents used both sweet and hot Hungarian paprika and while I did use some hot paprika for a little heat, I prefer the smoked sweet paprika for that smoky flavour. I like Campbell’s mushroom stock, but you could certainly make this with vegetable stock or water. The soup was quick to make and delicious, and my mom really loved it.

Mushroom goulash soup
2 tablespoons canola oil

4 small yellow cooking onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, finely diced

1 large carrot, finely diced

1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika

2 900ml Campbell’s mushroom broth

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 lbs. cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 cup sour cream

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, onions, garlic, celery, and carrots to pot and cook, stirring often until vegetables are soft and fragrant. Stir in flour and paprika and then stock until well mixed. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Stir in mushrooms and thyme and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer soup for 40 minutes until vegetables are cooked and soup is slightly thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Makes 6 generous servings.