A Big Ole' Bowl of Badass

Otherwise known as delicious f*&%ing Cream of Mushroom soup!

   Have I mentioned before that I like to cook? Well, I do. And on occasion I get some strong hankerin's for specific foods. No, I'm not pregnant, I just crave stuff from time to time. One of my favorite treat dishes is a big bowl of Mushroom Soup from La Madeline's, but that can get pricey sometimes, and I like to put my own spin on stuff. Here's my payoff as seen in the classy square bowl. (YES, SQUARE BOWLS ARE CLASSY!)

So here is what I did:

1lb White Button Mushrooms

2 Large Portobello caps

1/2 large purple onion (or whatever variety you fancy)

2-4 Cloves of garlic (depending on personal tastes)

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 of flour

1 box o' broth (I used chicken - 32 ounces)

1 Tb of Beef Bullion

1c Heavy Cream

1/2c Sherry or sherry substitue (optional)

First thing's first, melt your butter in a big pot (this makes quite a bit of soup). Chop your onion and mushrooms into bite sized bits and throw it in the butter to cook over medium-low heat. Crush your garlic and throw it in too. (No need to finely chop it or anything yet.) About 5-7 minutes or so to cook it all. 

Once cooked through, add your stock, reserving some aside to mix with the flour later. At this point you can add the beef boullion and sherry to the big pot too. Once you have the bulk of your liquids in, you have two choices: stick blender ORRRRRRR food processor. Personally, I find stick blenders far more useful for this. Either way, you want to pulse blend everything up until the mushrooms, garlic, and onions are small bits. It's totally okay to leave big bits too. I like my soup a bit on the chunky side, but it's all personal preference, right??

Now take the reserved broth and whisk with the flour until smooth. (I cheated and used my Magic Bullet. Best. Investment. EVER.) At this point, I like to add my spices too. Thyme is a good one, but I didn't have any that wasn't mixed was marjoram, dill, and something else. It was called Bouquet Garni from my local spice store. Add that flour/broth mixture to the pot, stir, and bring it all to a boil. The flour is really just there to thicken your soup. If you find it isn't thickening enough for your tastes, you can use cornstarch (directions on the package), or a bit more flour/water mixture. It will also thicken more as it cools too, so don't over thicken here, or you get fungus paste later. (Eww.)

Once you reach a boil, remove it from the heat and stir in your heavy cream. Only return it to the heat if you need to heat it through again, but don't bring it to a boil. If not, stick that shit in a bowl and enjoy! 

And those leftovers? They freeze pretty well if you have a decent dish to do it in. I'm cheap, so I use cleaned out big yogurt containers. When ready to use again, let it thaw until you can move it to a more microwave safe dish, or slow heat it in a pot. (Remember it still has the cream, so heating too fast can curdle and burn it.)

I guess for the purpose of the photo I could have garnished it or something...but I wasn't serving it to anyone else so .../shrug  Now if you'll 'scuse me, this soup is begging to be devoured. 

Enjoy :)