As the Hylians of Eastern Hyrule started using tomatoes more in their cooking, they developed a number of delicious recipes. One of these recipes was the Tomato Stew. As they experimented more and more with their cooking, they wondered what would happen if they combined their tomatoes with another common and abundant Hyrulean ingredient, mushrooms. Combining these ingredients into a soup makes for another equally delicious stew, the tomato mushroom stew.
"A dish of fragrant mushrooms simmered with tomato. Healthy and rich in fiber."
This is a pretty straightforward stew recipe. We will essentially make a very similar stew to the tomato stew, except we will add a number of mushrooms along with the chopped tomatoes after the soup base is puréed. The end result is a smooth, slightly thick stew filled with mushrooms and chunks of tomato. You get the acidic quality and sweet and sour flavor of the tomatoes contrasting with the warm earthy notes of the mushrooms. It’s a nice mixture of flavors that provides a nice enhancement to the basic tomato soup. A bowl of this in any Hylian village would be wonderful, particularly when accompanied by some cheesy bread (and that recipe is coming very soon)!
Ingredients
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
14 vine ripened red tomatoes
¼ cup basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
2-3 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
10 oz baby shiitake mushrooms,
4 oz bunapi mushrooms
2-3 red cherry tomatoes, for garnish
2-3 yellow cherry tomatoes, for garnish
Crimini mushrooms, for garnish
Olive oil
The first thing we want to do is peel the tomatoes. Removing the skin will allow for a smoother soup when we purée it at the end. I take this same approach for tomato sauces as well.
Remove the stems and core from all of the red vine ripened tomatoes. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and arrange just 10 of the red vine ripened tomatoes on a foiled baking tray cut side down. Place the other 4 red tomatoes off to the side for now. Broil the tomatoes on high for 10-15 minutes until the skin wrinkles and lifts from the tomatoes, blackening a little. Once the tomatoes are done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin from each tomato, and reserve the partially softened tomatoes in a bowl.
Set a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Once warm, add one or two tablespoons of olive oil and coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute.
Add the peeled tomatoes, along with the reserved juices, into the Dutch oven. Use a potato masher to partially crush the tomatoes, and then add the salt, black pepper, and chicken stock. Stir the contents together and allow it to come to a low boil. Reduce the heat to low and allow the tomatoes to simmer for 15 minutes.
While the tomatoes are simmering, remove the seeds from the remaining halves of the 4 reserved red tomatoes, and then chop them. If you plan to garnish the soup with some of the bunapi mushrooms to match the in-game soup, reserve a few of the bunapi mushrooms for garnish at this time.
After 15 minutes, remove the pot from heat and use an immersion blender to fully purée the soup until it is smooth. Add the tomato paste and stir to work the tomato paste into the soup, fully blending it. Add the chopped tomatoes, baby shiitake mushrooms, bunapi mushrooms, and chopped basil, and stir them into the soup. Bring the soup back to a simmer and allow it to simmer for an additional 15 minutes. The soup should begin to thicken a little and the chopped tomatoes and mushrooms will soften.
After the 15 minutes, remove the soup from the heat one more time, stir in the milk completely, and then return to to the heat to simmer for 5 more minutes.
While the soup it finishing, prepare the mushroom and tomato garnishes for the soup. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half horizontally along the center.
After 5 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and salt the soup to taste, if needed. It is now done! To serve, pour a few ladles into a soup bowl. Garnish with crimini mushrooms, bunapi mushrooms, and red and yellow cherry tomatoes as shown in the photo. Enjoy!
Learn more about the Tomato Mushroom Stew dish from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at Zelda Dungeon.