Allergy Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

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Allergy-Friendly Cream of Mushroom Soup (no dairy, eggs, gluten, or soy)

 

A few months ago, a reader asked me to come up with an allergen-free version of her favorite baked casserole, which was dependant on Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. I told her to sit tight, I’d get to it, and made a mental note to come up with a substitute for condensed soup. So when “alleycat” challenged me to come up with Cream of Mushroom Soup on my Food Allergy Recipe Challenge over at Martha Stewart’s Whole Living Daily, I jumped at the opportunity to work on two requests at once.

I guess I bargained that on some subconscious level, I’d been working on the recipe for several months already. Thankfully, I was right, and the soup is truly delicious. The challenge here was to replicate the creaminess of cream (and oftentimes, egg yolks) that cream of mushroom soup is dependent upon. Also, I needed to find an alternative to all-purpose wheat flour, which is the traditional thickening agent. Luckily, tapioca starch/flour is a great gluten-free thickener, and quick-cooking tapioca can create the richness, and texture of the cream and eggs. I left this recipe kid-friendly in flavor, but if you like, feel free to top off each bowl with a Tablespoon of dry sherry, and a sprig of fresh thyme. (more…)