Wild Mushroom Soup
I am sure that when people think vegetarian cooking my blog is one of the last that comes to mind. For all the meat centric dishes that are displayed on this blog there is a lot of vegetarian dishes that play second fiddle but never get any credit. This needs to change because I have this fear that the vegetables in my garden will rise up and haunt me. Even worse would be the precious tomatoes I have spent all spring and summer pampering with punk music, amazing soil, good fertilizer, and proper watering will commit suicide all over my siding.
I am a huge fan of wild mushrooms and enjoy hunting them (Elmer Fudd singing kill the rabbit just started running through my head) but my last couple of adventures in the woods have produced zero results. However, thank you grocery store and an amazing selection of dried and fresh mushrooms. This definitely helps relieve the frustration of coming up empty handed and fulfills my craving for earthy flavors.
The amazing part about using dried mushrooms is the liquid you have soaked the mushrooms to hydrate is permeated with amazing mushroom flavor (mushroom martini anyone). If I do not use this liquid in the dish I will at least fill up a jar with it and freeze it for future endeavors.
To answer the next question no I did not make the bread. Although I looked ahead and turned all giddy because I noticed baguettes are coming up soon in the Bread Baker Apprentice challenge. Woohoo!! Wait I just admitted to getting giddy over making bread. Damn you evil bread devil and your promise of baked goods!!!!
For this dish you will need:
- 1 ounce of dried mushrooms hydrated in 1 cup of water (bring water to boil, kill heat, add mushrooms, cover, relax for 30 minutes, strain keeping the glorious liquid)
- Package of fresh mushrooms sliced (I used baby bellas and I believe the package size was 10 ounces)
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 4 cups of vegetable stock
- 1 cup of cream
- 2 leeks diced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 sprigs of rosemary and 4 springs of thyme tied together (really you do not have to tie them together it just makes it easier to fish out before you blend)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup of flour
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
I have decided to try something new and go with numbered steps for this recipe.
- In your favorite cast iron Dutch oven or large pot melt the butter over medium-high.
- After the butter has melted add the leeks with pinch of salt and pepper and cook till softened (about 5 minutes).
- Add in the mushrooms and cook till they have shrunk and turned golden brown (about 8-10 minutes).
- Add in the garlic and paprika and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add in the flour and stir till combined (about 2 minutes).
- Deglaze with the wine and then add everything but the cream to the pot.
- Bring this mixture to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and let it go for a good 30 minutes.
- Taste the soup and adjust the flavors. Once you are happy fish out the thyme stems, rosemary, and bay leaves.
- Take the soup for a spin in your food processor or blender until it is chopped up. Be careful and hold on to the lid tightly and pulse. Hot liquids and pressure could paint the walls of your kitchen a ugly color brown.
- Stir in the 1 cup of cream.
Serve and enjoy with some Parmesan covered crusty bread and chives sprinkled over top of the soup. For the record my chives plant grows like a freaking weed so you are going to be seeing a lot of chives garnishes.
What a gorgeous soup! I’m impressed that you go out and hunt your own mushrooms, too. I’d most likely poison myself.
Oh, and don’t feel bad. Baguettes make me giddy, too.
I am a sucker for mushrooms. The soup looks fabulous!
I have some I can send you because I am philanthropic like that….this soup looks great….
ooo this look delicious! and so easy too!
Mmmm. I love, love, love mushroom soup. Yours looks so creamy and delicious.
This post is fantastic. I am such a mushroom nut that I am teased constantly on how mushrooms usually make it into some dish I am making! What can I say, I love them. This soup looks so creamy and comforting.
At the farmer’s market here there is a guy that goes out hunting for mushrooms and I cannot believe his selection. He has some mushrooms that I have never heard of or even seen before. You would have a blast at his stall. Dried, fresh, you name it, he has it.
It is going to be 100 here by Tuesday so I hope my tomato plants don’t retaliate and croak on me. Maybe I will try your punk music to keep them happy.
Creamy mushroom soup…divine. Delicious. Decadent!
Mmm, delicious Jeff.
That mushroom liquid would be awesome in a bread, don’t you think?
definitely another winner, jeff….
A fine soup of ’shrooms….always liked mushrooms - always will.
hmm. i don’t like mushrooms, but this looks lovely!!
Great to see that you are not only eating meat. I love mushrooms soups. This one looks fabulous.
I love your bowl! I have a few mushrooms growing in my container garden (?) but I dont think they’re of the eating variety! This looks so tasty and comforting.
I love all thing mushrooms! With the wine, cream and garlic, how could this soup not taste good?!
first of all, the fact that you have a square-shaped bowl surprises and pleases me. secondly, mushrooms have never been something i’ve enjoyed, but you’ve managed to make them look edible, even enticing!
Mmm, you had me at mushrooms. Sounds like a delicious recipe that is perfectly tummy-warming.
This looks absolutely delicious! I’m of the carnivorous persuasion myself, but sometimes you have to eat something vegetarian to make the meat taste that much better. (I think that’s the premise of the whole Greek Orthodox fast calendar, which we cheerfully ignore.) I don’t know if I would ever trust myself to go mushroom hunting, though.
Mushroom soup is comfort food and this recipe sounds excellent. It looks flavorful, creamy and delicious. Nice blend of ingredients and your very own chives! Cool!
I love the flavor of mushrooms, just not the texture of them when they aren’t pureed. This soup looks so good!
I just found out my older son loves mushrooms, so I will have to make this for him.
Thanks for posting on my blog today. I hear you about local businesses closing, its sad!
WOW! That looks delicious. I love mushrooms and they make such a good soup.
That looks incredible Jeff! I’ve never looked for Wild mushrooms in the wild-I suppose I am scared of not knowing which ones are poisonous and not. I’ll admit to being an urban hunter
Mushroom soup is one of my favorites and this one sounds really good.
Yummmm…. can I bring my own bowl and spoon for that mushroom soup?
I think eating vegetarian every once in a while is very important for a healthy diet and this mushroom soup looks really delicious. It’s getting colder here because of the approaching winter, so I think I will try this recipe. I love leeks too, and I’ve been looking for some recipes that use leeks!
I love mushrooms, I love soup, so I know I would love this. It sounds very gourmet and delicious.
excuse me while I’m shouting all sorts of expletives (in a good way) over this amazing soup. Oh my God. it’s GLORIOUS! just look at how thick and creamy it is! i can just imagine the layers and layers of flavors in there!
For a long long time I thought I didn’t like mushrooms. They are now staging a comeback in my life, however, I’m not quite sure that I’m prepared to eat a whole soup that is based off of them. If I WERE, this would be it, I mean rosemary, leeks, AND cream! How can you go wrong?
I’m studying for finals right now and I could SO use that mushroom martini. If you could put it in a spill-proof container and mail it to me, it would be much appreciated.
Foragi9ng for my own mushrooms would be amazing (if I knew what I was doing of course). Someday I would like to head to Oregon and search for truffles with the experts.
This sounds great - I love mushroom soups! Funny, now that you mention it, I remember being surprised that despite your url, you have a lot of vegetarian recipes!
How is it that I’m just discovering your yummy blog? LOVE morels, but I’m ashamed to admit that I am STILL a morel virgin…sigh. May I live vicariously (