Quick & Delish: Mushroom Soup

A few years ago, I made a conscious decision to begin cooking meals from scratch, using fresh ingredients whenever possible. Besides tomatoes for sauces (when I’ve run out of our fresh/frozen pureed garden tomatoes) and beans for chili, I can honestly say that I don’t remember the last time I bought a canned vegetable. Two years ago, I was on the hunt to find a made-from-scratch green bean casserole recipe for Thanksgiving and this one from Food Network’s Alton Brown doesn’t disappoint. The homemade mushroom soup baked with blanched, fresh green beans and topped with French’s onions (yes canned…but I can never get the fresh ones just right) is a total hit.

This little back story brings me to today’s recipe. With Thanksgiving over, omit the green beans and French’s onions and enjoy a delicious pot of mushroom soup as winter rages on.

Ingredients

• 4T unsalted butter
• 16 - 24oz. mushrooms, trimmed and cut into ½ inch pieces (depending on how mushroom-y you like your soup)
• Suggest chopping about 1/3 and leaving the remaining 2/3 as slices
• 1t freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½t freshly ground nutmeg
• Who has freshly ground nutmeg in their kitchen? Just use the stuff from your spice rack.
• ¼c all-purpose flour
• 2c chicken broth
• 2c half & half

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the mushrooms, 1t salt & pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Don’t be afraid to let the mushrooms cook a little longer if you feel they need to.
3. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Sprinkle four over the mixture and stir to combine…cook for 1 minute.
5. Add the broth and simmer for 1 minute.
6. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add the half & half.
7. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes. My soup never seems to thicken in 6 to 8 minutes. If you’ve stirred for a while beyond the recipe directions with no thickening in sight, make a roux of chicken stock and corn starch (2 - 3 parts stock to 1 part starch in a small dish) and add a little at a time until the soup thickens to desired consistency.
• A couple notes regarding the use of corn starch...
• It usually thickens better if your soup is simmering. Be careful if you raise the heat with this recipe as the half and half could scorch…just keep stirring constantly.
• Make sure you add the starch in as a roux…if you just dump it in, your soup will be lumpy.
• Corn starch can over-thicken in the blink of an eye. Like I said earlier, add a little at a time and mix thoroughly before adding more. It’s better for your soup to be on the thin side rather than over-thickened.
• If you do over-thicken, add some chicken broth to the mixture until the soup reaches desired consistency.
8. I didn’t say this recipe was healthy but it’s definitely delicious…serve with crusty bread and enjoy!