Mushroom Soup, creamy or otherwise

I heart mushrooms...B does not. Not even a little.  I always want to order mushroom soup when we're out, but half the time its terrible fungus-y dishwater.  When you find a good soup with strong rich flavor (that's not too salty, not too thick, not made with 9lbs of butter and actually tastes like mushrooms instead of beef) its pretty heavenly.


This past weekend, I set out to make the best mushroom soup I could come up with AND keep B happy by sating him with a pot of Loaded Baked Potato Soup (which was rich, salty, calorie & carb laden and pretty terrific, too).  Give this a whirl and let me know what you think.


Yield: 6-8 servings

Time: 60-90 min


Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 large leek, cleaned and sliced*

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2lbs mixed mushrooms, white, portobello, shitaki, etc, rough chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried tarragon*

1 c. dry white wine or 1/2 c. sherry or cognac

6 cups rich homemade veggie stock* or really good store bought (more or less depending on how thick you like it)

1 cup half n half or cream (optional)

s&p


Method:

• Heat the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat until melted.  
• Add onions, leeks, celery, carrot; partially cover and sweat*, 7-10 min.
• Add garlic and tarragon, stir for a minute or so
• Scoot* the veggies to the side, add all mushrooms and partially cover ad cook over medium / low until mushrooms are cooked through.  Reserve about a cup of mushrooms if you want to stir them through your finished soup for texture.  
• Remove cover and add the booze, cook until reduced by half.
• Add 4 cups broth and simmer 10-15 minutes.  
• Blend the soup with an immersion blender until completely smooth.  Add more stock if desired.
• Partially cover and simmer a while, 20-40 min.
• Taste, add s&p, add half and half and maybe a splash more booze.
• Warm through and serve with warm bread...maybe a fancy lil grilled gruyere cheese sammich...

Serving ideas: ...aside from the sammich.  Top with high quality prosciutto, the fennel in the curing rub will rock out with the tarragon and mushroom.  Sprinkle with crumbled bacon (softer rather than crispier). Top with a dollop of fresh goat cheese or float a crouton of brie in it.  Sprinkle with a bit of white truffle sea salt.  Throw a handful of asparagus tips in there.  

*Helpful Hints:

Leeks - eeks can be dirty, but are not always. Look for one with as much white as possible.  Cut off the dark green part (lite green is fine to use) and the little root fuzzies.  Once you have your leek log, slice it long ways (from end to end).  Take a look at it sliced side up - it may or may not be dirty between the layers.  If it is, just run it under cold water till its clean and set it sliced side down on a towel to dry out.

Veggie Stock - made from scratch, this is the best yet.  I have not found a good prepared one, let me know if you have any recommendations.

Tarragon - this is a pretty critical ingredient for this dish, tarragon has a licorish-y flavor and brings out the richness of the mushrooms.  If you can't get your hands on it, reach for something else with a similar flavor profile like fennel or basil.  If using dried, add at this time.  If using fresh, add in the last 5 min of cooking before puree.

Sweat - not you, the veggies.  This is a low cooking method that is not intended to bring any color to the veggies at all.  Think of it as time for them to get to know each other and start sharing flavors.

Mushroom Scoot - If you're not reserving to add back to the puree, you can skip the scoot and just stir all the veggies up together.