Special Cream of Mushroom Soup

Special Cream of Mushroom Soup
From The Best of Chef at Home
Definitely not a diet recipe, but certainly wonderful

Printable Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup/125ml) butter
2lb/1kg mushrooms (button, cremini, shitake…any combination of any of your favorites)
2-3 onions, peeled and chopped
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
½ bottle of hearty red wine
4 cups/1 liter chicken broth
1 cup/250 ml heavy cream (35%)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (I used 2 sprigs of fresh thyme and “fished” out the sprigs before serving.
2 tbsp cornstarch
¼ cup water

Directions:
1. Heat a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the butter, mushrooms and onions. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until lightly browned. The mushrooms will initially give of lots of moisture, preventing them from browning. Eventually, the moisture will evaporate, allowing the pot’s heat to rise to browning temperature (about 15 minutes or so).

2. Pour in the red wine and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking until the wine has reduced to about 1/3, concentrating the flavor. (about 15-20 minutes) Stir occasionally.

3. Add the chicken broth, heavy cream and fresh thyme. Stir and bring the soup to a simmer.

4. Meanwhile, dissolve the cornstarch in the water. Add this mixture slowly to the simmering soup, stirring until it returns to a simmer and thickens slightly.

Serve immediately. It’s a perfect simple meal served with a salad of mixed greens tossed with olive oil & apple cider balsamic vinegar and Frozen Butter Biscuits. And forget about dieting, at least for this meal.