Cream of mushroom soup

The weather is getting colder and I am starting to crave earthy soups. This mushroom soup is just right for this time of the year.

It‘s a soup I cooked many times as I quite like it. The recipe evolved from Julia Child’s recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“ but this is my much simpler version; with a lot less butter and cream and no egg yolks in it.

When I first cooked it following the recipe I was not only shocked about the amount of butter, cream and eggs that goes in it but also the time and effort to make it. But all seemed to be worth it because it sure tasted really good.

When I made it for the second time I skipped some of the steps and swapped most of the butter with olive oil. Then the next time I made it I swapped the cream with milk and let go of the 4 egg yolks. It still tasted pretty good.

After cooking this soup many times I came up with this recipe that I enjoy a lot. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Please let me know if you cook it.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

4 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoon flour

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock

3-4 springs of parsley

2-3 springs thyme

1 bay leaf

500 g chestnut mushrooms, stems separated and the rest thinly sliced

1 tablespoons butter

200 ml full fat milk

Method

1. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan place on a medium high heat. Add the onions and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often until the onions are soft and translucent.

2. Add the flour to the onions and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly until it’s golden.

3. Add the chicken stock, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, freshly ground black pepper, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and stems of mushrooms to the saucepan and bring to boil, them simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on a medium high heat add the mushrooms and cook until they release all their juices, about 5 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir well.

5. Take 1 or 2 tablespoon of the mushrooms from the frying pan, put them in a bowl and keep aside.

6. Add rest of the mushrooms to the saucepan with the simmering stock And bring to boil.

7. Add the milk to the saucepan and bring to boil again.

8. Using a blender (hand-held or free-standing) blitz the soup as much as you want.

9. Serve the soup topped with the mushrooms kept aside.