One of the things I miss the most from home and my mom’s cooking is ‘meals with a spoon’. We eat so much soups and stews home, I would say they make almost half of all of our meals, and even if it isn’t a full meal with a spoon, some kind of lighter soup makes it’s way to the table as an appetizer. This mushroom soup would be either a very light meal in the warmer weather or an appetizer in the colder weather. I don’t think you would make any normal Croatian person very happy if you gave them a plate of this in the Winter and call it done! :))) Specially not for lunch which is our main meal of the day. Maybe you could get away with it at dinner time…
In any case, I miss soups and stews so much, and my husband is really not crazy about them, unless it’s tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich. He will gladly eat that. And five minutes later he will ask me what’s for dinner 😀
My son loves most soups though, and that is pretty awesome if you know my son. The little guy that somehow survives on chicken nuggets, frozen burritos and pizza. Don’t even try explaining to me what I need to do for him to start eating everything. I did it all. He wins. As long as he eats his yogurts and fruits in between his meals I give up because he does want to eat soup and he loves it. So I can say to myself he actually eats a portion of vegetables once a week, ha! Ah, the little things that make mama’s happy.
Mushroom soup is his favorite, he will even choose it over pizza, sometimes. OK. Once. As long as I blend the crap out of it. No big pieces. I think if he saw a slice of mushroom – that would be it. No more soups. EVER.
So, for normal people, don’t blend the crap out of it. Maybe just a pulse here and there to thicken it a bit, but so you still have some chunks in it.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
4 cups of chopped mushrooms,
(I used combination of shiitake, baby portobello and regular button mushrooms)
1 stick of butter
2 large shallots (if you don’t have them just use an onion) finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
about 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp all purpose flour for thickening
Melt the butter in a pot and saute shallots until soft and transparent. Add garlic for 30 second and then add chopped mushrooms and saute for five more minutes. Add the flour and cook for a few more minutes all the while stirring. Season with salt and pepper and add the chicken broth. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes and then add the heavy cream, sour cream and half and half. Cook until it gets hot and then blend just a little bit with an immersion blender for a smother, thicker consistency.
I like to still see some chunks in my soup, but as I said, for my son, I blend it all the way.
At the end I sprinkle each serving with some freshly chopped parsley. You could add it to the soup at the very end if no one minds the parsley, but my two guys do, so I do it on a side for me. Plus it looks prettier.
Enjoy!
