Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup with Sherry
January 14th, 2010 § 1 Comment
I love mushrooms- especially wild mushroom soup. I searched far and wide for this recipe after lunching at the inconspicuous French bakery Belle Epicurean in downtown Seattle and had their mushroom soup puree- so delicious! I was (and still am) such a klutz I accidentally knocked my soup over and spilled half of it on my new sweater. You know it’s a good soup when you’re more upset about losing the soup than having soup all over you! I got over it.
Serves 6 for a first course or 3 very hungry guests
Ingredients:
- 5 tblsp unsalted butter
- 12 oz wild mushrooms (Chanterelles, Winecap, Portabella, Shiitake) chopped coarsely into bite-size pieces
- 2 shallots finely chopped
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup Dry Sherry
- Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Tarragon, chopped
- 1 tsp Chives, chopped
Instructions
- Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Sweat shallots in pan.
- Add mushrooms. Coat mushrooms with butter and stir occasionally until they begin to express their juices.
- Remove 1/3 of the mushrooms allow to cool a bit and purée them. Lower heat on remaining mushrooms.
- Meanwhile, in a stock pot, add veggie stock, and sherry. Bring to a slow, rolling boil for about 10 minutes, allowing stock to reduce a bit.
- Lower heat to a simmer. Add mushroom purée and continue simmering for about another 10 minutes allowing the flavors to marry.
- Add the remaining mushrooms, season soup with salt, pepper to taste, blend well.
- Add milk, taste soup and season to desired flavor
- Add fresh chopped herbs.
- Just before serving whisk in 2 tablespoons of cold butter. Serve.
- Garnish with full sprigs of herbs.
- Serve with fresh popovers or french bread
Lessons learned:
- This recipe was not the purée I loved from the restaurant- next time I’ll thicken by adding less liquid (milk and broth) and blending everything to a chunky pulp.
- After adding the milk I poured up one bowl of soup then kept the stove on high and stepped away for a few minutes. When I returned to the pot the milk was all clotted and separated (it still tasted good!) Next time I’ll make sure to take the soup off the heat before adding the milk or at least lower the heat.
- To make the soup prettier next time I’ll slice a couple of button mushrooms lengthwise and saute, then place a couple on top of each soup for a mushroom garnish.
Love mushrooms like I do? Here’s another great recipe: Wild Mushroom Pizza with Yukon Gold Potato, Arugula, and Rosemary
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