Creamy Cream-less Mushroom Soup
Creamy yet light and packed with flavor, I love this mushroom soup. I first really fell in love with mushroom soup while traveling in Iceland and have been on the mission since to replicate the best of the mushroom soups I had there. This one comes close and pair particularly nicely with warm bread and butter.
Yield: 4 servings
Total cook time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, small diced
1 leek, white and light green part only, cut in half lengthwise, cleaned thoroughly and sliced
Salt, to taste
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups (plus more if needed) vegetable stock
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms - I like a combination of shiitakes, portobellas, and creminis
Bouquet garni - a couple thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, a few stems of parsley - tied in a bundle
1 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp dry sherry, optional
1/2 cup milk or cream, optional
Directions
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion and leek and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not brown. Add salt and pepper and the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic smells fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they begin to sweat and smell fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. If desired, remove a few mushrooms for garnish and set aside.
Add stock, bouquet garni, soy sauce and salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni.
If using an immersion blender, remove pot from heat and blend until smooth. If using blender, work in batches, blending the soup until smooth. Only fill the blender about half way and cover the top with a towel pulled down tight or loosely covered with the lid, rather than airtight with the lid, because hot soup will build pressure and push the top off if the blender is closed airtight.
Return soup to the pot, taste and adjust salt, and add pepper and the sherry, if using. Add the milk or cream if using, and heat through, stirring. If the soup seems too thick, thin out a little more stock but remember to taste and adjust seasoning. Garnishing with chopped or torn flat-leaf parsley and/or a few sautéed mushroom pieces.
