Soup of the Week – Homemade Cream of Mushroom

My Husband tells me that I second-guess myself too much.

He’s probably right.

Most often, I do my second-guessing in the kitchen. Is this really going to be enough for four people? That doesn’t seem like enough seasoning. Maybe the soup is too thin. And so I will very often make changes based on that bit of uncertainty.

More often than not, though, when I start to second-guess myself in the kitchen, I regret it. I end up with more leftovers than I expected, too much heat in the sautéed squash and cranberry dish, and a just slightly too-thick soup.

Still, I continue to distrust myself. For example, when I started this week’s soup, I reached for my cute little red Dutch oven. I turned on the flame and let the butter start to melt while I sliced mushrooms. Check it out – because who doesn’t want a gratuitous shot of melting butter? All seemed well until the mushrooms were nearly sliced. I started to wonder if the pot would be big enough. I decided to go with my gut and dumped them into the cute little red Dutch oven anyway. It was really full. Know what I did next? Panicked just a little and switched pots anyway. So my cute little red Dutch oven sat sadly but stolidly nearby… As it turned out, the mushrooms reduced themselves nicely, as mushrooms are wont to do and the red pot would have been just fine. I know this well enough. But I saw only what was right in front of me and did not think far enough ahead to realize that it would turn out just fine. And it did. Things usually do when I stop and remember to consider the process and what it will do for the final result, not see only the immediate situation.

I’m going to try to keep that in mind when that uncertainty and panic creeps into other areas of my life, not just my kitchen.

This week’s soup is thanks to May’s request. A good cream of mushroom soup is heavenly. I love the earthiness of this one – mushrooms, thyme, red wine. It was a perfect soup for a week with really glorious fall weather.

After you make this one, grab a huge soup mug and a warm blanket and get cozy!

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

What you need:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup red wine
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

What to do:

• Melt butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and browned, about 5-6 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
• Stir in wine and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream and thyme.
• In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Stir in mixture to the soup until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup is too thin, add more cornstarch as needed until desired consistency is reached.
• Serve immediately.

 What you should know:

The recipe called for unsalted butter. I had salted in the fridge. It works just fine. Cut back on the salt elsewhere if you’re concerned.

I used two nice-sized shallots instead of cooking onion. I like shallots. I think they sound much fancier than onion. I pretend they are really elegant onions. See – don’t they look elegant?

I had a bottle of my go-to cheap Shiraz on hand for the wine. Any hearty red wine will do, but I’d go with dry rather than sweet for this. I suppose it’s really a matter of taste, though, and a sweeter wine could do just as well. Stick to the theory that if you like the wine, the food will like the wine.

I really did intend to buy heavy cream at the store that morning…and didn’t. So once again I did the light cream with butter to compensate thing. Still tastes rich and amazing.

May sent me a pin from Damn Delicious with this recipe. At the bottom of that post, I found a note that the recipe was adapted from Salu Salo Recipes, so I went there. That page cites the source as Best of Chef at Home. I guess this is a popular soup! And as it turns out, I found myself in the comments at Salu Salo – I’ve made this soup before! I knew it seemed familiar. My first cream of mushroom post lives here. I feel kind of silly for doing the same soup. But not really. I love that May sent a suggestion (send yours) and this time I have pictures! Plus, it’s a really good soup – worth the second post!

Thanks for your patience with the soup this week…and thanks to those who e-mailed or messaged and said “Hey, where’s the soup?” I feel loved. I planned to post Tuesday, but had my eyes dilated at my eye exam and then couldn’t see for the rest of the day. I should have planned around that. Didn’t.

But soup’s on now so enjoy!

Coming soon: a new spin on butternut squash soup for the Fab Hub and a spicy butternut and vegetable “stoup” my Mom saw on Rachael Ray’s TV show. I’m looking for ideas and suggestions, so send yours!