Cream of Mushroom Soup

One of my favourite rainy-weather soups of all time.

This is Chef John’s recipe from allrecipes, with a few tweaks from me. I’ve been making it for 3 – 4 years now, and I am yet to find a better mushroom soup recipe.

The beauty of it is in its simplicity – it’s just the pure essence of the mushrooms. No secret ingredients, nothing fancy. The only downside – you need a lot of mushrooms and some patience! But it’s so, so worth it 💛

Ingredients

Makes: 3 Portions
Time: 1 hr 30 min

4 tbsp butter
1200g brown champignons
1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large yellow onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper and more salt to taste

Instructions

1.

Prepare: Start by cleaning 1200g mushrooms by rubbing them under water until perfectly clean. Then dry them with a kitchen towel and chop into about 5mm thick slices.

2.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauce pan. Reserve the rest for later. Once the butter in simmering, add the sliced mushrooms with a pinch of salt and mix well. Cook for about 15 – 20 min, mixing often, until the mushrooms juices have completely evaporated and they start turning golden brown.

3.

Meanwhile, roughly slice 1 large onion and tie 10 thyme springs together using a kitchen twine (if you don’t have any, you can use dental floss instead). Peal and roughly chop 4 garlic cloves.

4.

Once the mushrooms started to turn golden brown, set aside a few pretty ones for serving (and trust me, you gonna love that little bite they give!)

5.

Add the chopped onion to the pan together with the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 more min.

6.

Stir in 2 tablespoons of flour and cook for a minute or two to get rid of the raw flower taste. This will make the soup thicker and creamier.

7.

Throw in the tied thyme springs and the garlic, pour over 4 cups of chicken broth + 1 cup of water. Bring to simmer and cook for about 1 hour.

I like my soup very thick, so I prefer not to cover it. But if you like it a bit thinner, then you can cover the soup with a a lid while it simmers.

8.

After one hour remove the thyme bundle. Transfer the soup to a blender, add 1 cup heavy whipping cream, and blend until super smooth. You might have to work in batches. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.

At this point, if you think the soup is too thick for your liking then you can add more chicken stalk or water. Don’t add more cream, it would make it too rich.

9.

Transfer the soup back into the pot on a low heat to keep it warm

10.

Serve: Finally, transfer the soup into your serving bowls, garnish with the reserved sliced mushrooms, some fresh thyme leaves and freshly cracked pepper. Done!