Homemade Mushroom Soup

Shiitake mushrooms (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I admit it. I am a home-made soup addict. It's my absolutely favorite thing to make in the world and once there is a hint of coldness in the air...I'm all about making soup at least once a week. (Although, I'm definitely not above making cold soups during the summer...see my most recent post on Gazpacho soup).

I made a batch of "Creamy Mushroom Soup" on Tuesday (with a little help from my daughter...she helped stir the onions and shallots, threw all the mushrooms in the pot and helped me collect the thyme) and it was a big hit with all three of us.

It took about 30 minutes to prep and make and is a very doable week-day meal. Here are the ingredients I used in this particular batch...

1 yellow onion
1 shallot
1 pint of shiitake mushrooms
1 pint of baby bella mushrooms
3 shot glasses of Golden Dry Sherry
splash of lemon juice
handful of thyme
4ish tablespoons of flour
1/2 pint of cream
4 cups of water
pinch of sea salt
pinch of pepper

1. Saute onions and shallots in butter with a bit of thyme until they are transparent.

2. Add mushrooms. Sprinkle in some more thyme, a shot glass of sherry and a splash of lemon juice. Cook until mushrooms start shrinking (4-6 minutes).

3. SLOWLY start sprinkling in flour. Stir rigorously until you can't see any flour. Sprinkle more. Repeat procedure until there is a decent thick paste (probably about 4 tablespoons).

4. Add cream, water, salt, pepper, some more thyme (if you like) and the rest of the sherry. Bring to a boil and then immediately put it on simmer for at least an hour (this batch I kept simmering for 2 hours).

Remember soup ALWAYS tastes better the next day....but this is pretty decent immediately (especially if you simmer it for a while). Happy Soup-Makin'!