cream of mushroom soup recipe

Fall seems to be gone away, so quickly that it barely registered in my mind, except my few fall foliage trips, trees seems to shed leaves early and few days of surprise snow in October, pushed us in the winter with prolonged cold days, sometimes with intermittent warm sunny days but with a chill in the air, which is very typical of winter mornings.

A warm hearty bowl of soup or stew is all what we needed, what we craved for our body, for our soul, rich and creamy with nice aroma that fills the kitchen and lingers in the air for long , with some root vegetables thrown in, peppered with some seasonings and a spoon to dive into this healthy and hearty indulgence of comfort food…a total bliss for cold winter days.

Rich and creamy mushroom soup was long in my list to-do, and when I saw it in Swetha’s blog with whom I have been paired this week for blog-hop Wednesdays, a fun event which is in its 2nd edition started by Radhika of Tickling palates, my craving re-surfaced and I immediately bookmarked it. Swetha’s has an envious array of International cuisine and given a choice, it was really difficult to select a one, out of so many delicious recipes.

For the original recipe of mushroom soup, you can hop to Swetha’s blog, I have tried to keep it simple, like her except I have used some dried thyme in place of parsley leaves (as I don’t have any parsley in pantry), which just brings a different flavor to the soup. You can off course tweak it to your heart’s desire.

Cream of mushroom soup is very simple soup with cream or milk being added to mushroom broth and sometimes people also uses plain flour in it to give a smooth texture which is again very much in sync with French Bechamel or Italian white sauces and in such cases, the leftovers of creamy mushroom soup sometimes has also been used as a base for variety of casseroles, pastas and other comfort foods.

Ingredients:

Button mushrooms : 250gm
Olive oil / butter : 1 tbsp
Red Onion : 1 small chopped
Vegetable stock / mushroom stock : 1 cup
Plain flour : 1 tbsp (optional)
Milk / low fat cream : 1 cup
a pinch of dried thyme or 1 tbsp of fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black peppers

Method:

Separate the mushroom caps from their stalk and keep aside 6-7 perfect caps for garnishing.

Slice the remaining mushroom caps and finely chopped the stalks.

Heat a deep bottom non-stick saucepan and add a teaspoon of olive oil, followed by some butter if you prefer.

Add the onions and fry them for couple of minutes. Add the sliced and chopped mushrooms and fry them for couple of minutes more, stirring frequently.

Cover and sweat over a gentle heat for 6-7 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Stir in the flour and cook for about 1 minute.

Gradually add the vegetable or mushroom stock and milk / cream to make a thin sauce.

Add the dried or fresh thyme, check the salt and add some freshly crushed black pepper powder to taste.

Bring it to the boil and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Cool the soup slightly and then pour into a blender, process until smooth.

In a separate pan add some oil or butter and fry the mushroom caps till you got a nice golden brown hue for about 3-4 minutes until they are just tender.

Pour the soup in a clean pan, stir in the fried mushroom caps, heat it until hot, sprinkle some fresh or dried thyme and serve hot in a soup bowl, alone or with your choice of bread or bread sticks. We had it with some leftover pumpkin breads.

Tips :

• Never cook mushroom in an aluminum pan, it will blacken the color of mushroom.
• If you are using flour in this recipe, then leftover soup can be used as a base for creamy pasta dishes, or vegetable and chicken casseroles.

This post is also linked to Valli’s Soup & Salads mela and Radhika’s Winter carnival

Enjoy and have a good day

Sukanya