Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Barbara looks at the excess of mushrooms we find ourselves with and says "Why don't you make a Mushroom Soup", not wanting to disappoint my answer is "sure a good idea". The only problem is I have never made a Mushroom Soup and don't know where to even start.

Any good recipes for Mushroom soup out there?


Thanks,
Barry

Ina Garten has a great mushroom soup recipe....you can find by searching her show at the Food Network website.
(If I was cleverer, I would add the link here)
Ilene

Here is one I have yet to try but it sounded good. I'll also post my Mom's recipe which we adore.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup
Makes about 6 servings

1 cup wild rice
1 large onion, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 pound mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
1-2 cheese rinds (optional)
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 cup whole milk or cream
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons salt, divided

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the wild rice and one teaspoon of salt, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 40-50 minutes, until the rice has burst open and tastes tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid to use as stock if desired.

While the rice cooks, prepare the rest of the soup. Warm a teaspoon of oil in a dutch oven or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery with a half teaspoon of salt, and cook until the onions have softened and turned translucent, 3-5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the mushrooms and another half teaspoon of salt. Cook until the mushrooms have released all their liquid and turned dark brown, 15-20 minutes. Don't skimp on this step! This is where the soup gets its deep, rich flavor.

Add the garlic and oregano, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and stir until the vegetables become sticky and there is no more visible dry flour. Increase the heat again to medium-high and pour in the wine. Stir and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue simmering until the wine has reduced and thickened a bit.

Add the bay leaf, cheese rinds, and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. Add the rosemary, milk, and wild rice. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until the soup has thickened to your liking. Stir in the cider vinegar. Taste and add more salt or vinegar to taste.

Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week.

From my Mom, but adapted slightly over the years. Mom used to use a Manishevitz (sp?) dry barley soup mix but that's no longer available so I adapted using plain barley. We just love this hearty soup on a cold winter day.

Mushroom Barley Soup with Lamb

2 lamb chops or 1 shank
2 shallots -- minced
3 cloves garlic -- minced
1 lb carrots -- diagonally sliced
4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup barley*
2 bay leaves
1 pound mushrooms -- quartered
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Mince garlic and shallot and add to large pot. Peel and slice carrots in thick pieces and add to pot. Add a little bit of chicken stock and saute 30 seconds until flavors are released. Add remaining stock and lamb, bay leaves and barley. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil, skimming foam every few minutes. Reduce heat and simmer soup, uncovered, 30 minutes.

While soup is simmering, clean mushrooms, remove stems and quarter.
Add mushrooms and balsamic vinegar to soup and continue to simmer, partially covered, for another 15 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked through.

Let sit for about 1/2 hour before serving to allow soup to thicken.

* DO NOT ADD MORE BARLEY - SOUP WILL THICKEN IN TIME EVEN IF IT LOOKS TOO THIN!!!

I tested a CC recipe a while back and it was very good. My plan had been to freeze some for use in casserole type dishes since I was not a fan of mushroom soup, but we liked it so much we ate it all. It appeared on the 10/2009 issue.

Thanks guys, you saved my reputation, Nancy's wild rice and Mushroom is one that I have all the ingredients for so it has a good shot of being the one we will have.

I always feel better about taking a recipe from one of you folks, people I know than say do a search and find something that is who knows.

Thanks,
Barry

Nancy making your soup right now, early on it has a real earthy taste, which is good. I called Barbara and told her I was making it and she was quite happy to hear that, sure sounds good. I have to replace cider vinegar which we always have with Rice Wine Vinegar. I doubt it will make much of a difference. I'll let you know what the reviews are.

Thanks,
Barry

Ooh Nance,
Your Mom's soup looks really good. I'm going to try it one of these days! Thanks
The other Nancy

Interesting, I had a problem with an over abundance of mushrooms last month. Both me and the Mrs made purchases unknowingly. Oh well, there are bad problems, then there are "good" problems.

Reading the recipes above you guys are using 2 or 3 cloves of garlic? Ughh.
No disrespect intended, it's just not my style.

I made a basic cream of mushroom soup, the comfort food version.
Ingredients:
White button mushrooms, couple pounds, fine diced to 1/4 inch.
Olive oil, 1-2 tablespoons
Shallots or sweet onion, fine chop
Light red wine like Rose' or white zin, 1/2 cup (or substitute: lemon juice 1/4 cup)
Chicken stock, 2 cups
Flour, 2 tablespoons
Heavy cream (36-40% butterfat), 2 cups
White pepper
Salt
Nutmeg, ground, pinch
Chives or green onion

Stock pot, add oil and saute mushrooms. Caramelize mushrooms and reduce stock to 1-2 tablespoons.
Add onion (or shallots) and wine; continue to actively saute another 5 minutes.
Add chicken stock.
Mix flour with heavy cream, pour into the pot, deglaze by stirring.
Simmer and stir until thickened (15 minutes) add a little milk if necessary.
Add salt and white pepper to taste, add pinch of nutmeg.
Serve in soup bowls garnished with chives (green onions) and croutons.
Optional: thinly slice 1 or 2 mushrooms and garnish with slices.

Barbara said the Mushroom/wild Rice soup was delicious. I haven't had it yet and my opinion isn't really important, I probably won't have more than a couple of spoon fulls. Thanks, Nancy.