Mushroom Onion Swiss Burger Soup
Mushroom Onion Swiss Burger Soup
Yield 4
Mushroom onion swiss burgers are delicious. As fall and soup weather drew closer it occurred to me that making a soup based on that burger might be awesome. This is the result of that experiment.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, something of burger making quality
- 2 large white onions
- 1 lb cremini (aka baby bella) mushrooms or your favorite mushroom
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 lbs(454g) Jarlsberg or other alpine style cheese (aka "Swiss")
- 3-4 oz of a stronger alpine cheese like Ementaler for a stronger "Swiss cheese" flavor
- 1 qt beef stock
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced, pressed or grated
- 20g sodium citrate
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- Optional:
- Fresh Parsley or Dill
Instructions
- Halve and peel all onions trimming the top and root. Slice into strips from top to bottom. This will keep the onions from falling apart during cooking. Set aside.
- Clean and quarter your mushrooms. Set aside.
- Grate all of your alpine cheese and set aside.
- Divide burger into 5 roughly even round balls and roll lightly
- Heat a heavy bottom pan on medium high until searing temps are reached.
- Cook each ball individually as you would a smash burger. Drop it into the hot pan and press as flat as possible to the most surface area you can. Season uncooked face with salt and pepper. Cook until well seared. Flip and sear the second side. Repeat until done. Set burgers aside on a plate to cool. Once cool cut into bite sized pieces. You may need to deglaze between burgers to keep the fond from burning. If you do save the deglaze water for your onions.
- Add all onions to the same pan you cooked the burger in. Season with a half teaspoon of salt. You can use a little water to deglaze the beef fond so that it doesn't burn or add in your reserved beef water from the prior step. Cook the onions on med high heat stirring often until they are well caramelized. Add a bit of water any time you are concerned there is too much fond and onions sticking to the bottom of the pan. When nearly done add the red wine vinegar and reduce until dry again. Remove onions from pan and set aside when done.
- This step could be done at the same time as the previous in a different pan if you want to save some time. Add mushrooms to pan. Add the white wine. Cover and cook over medium high heat to steam for 5 minutes. Remove cover and add 1 teaspoon of coarse kosher salt. Cook out all the liquid. Add a bit of oil to promote browning. Cook until well browned. Add butter and cook into the mushrooms until the butter is browned and nutty smelling. Add garlic and thyme and saute for 30 - 60 seconds. Remove mushrooms and set aside.
- Deglaze the pan with the 1 qt of beef stock. If this pan is deep enough to make your soup in then go to step 10. If not then transfer the stock to an appropriate soup pan. Ensure all fond is deglazed before transfer.
- Add the sodium citrate to the pan. Mix well. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then back the heat down slightly. We want this hot but not boiling.
- Add all of your cheeses and whisk until fully smooth and emulsified. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender and mix until smooth.
- Add onions, mushrooms and burger chunks back to the soup and mix to combine.
- Serve in a well toasted bread bowl. If possible an uncut burger bun that has been carved into a bowl. Alternatively you can serve it normally in a bowl with some kind of crouton situation. Garnish with green herb of choice such as parsley or dill.