Start by assembling the ingredients needed for the basic soup. You'll need about 1/3 cup (70 g) flour, 4 ounces (110 g) butter, 1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock, 4 ounces (110 g) diced onions (about 1/2 large yellow onion), 2 oz. (55 g) celery, 2 oz. (55 g) leeks, 7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk (not pictured). You'll also need to have 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper for finishing the recipe.
Start by washing the leeks. Often, mud and dirt will get trapped in the layers of the leek, so special care should be taken to wash them thoroughly. The easiest way to do this is simply to break the leeks apart under running water and use your fingers to help wash the dirt away. The celery should also be rinsed and deveined.
Chop off the green tops, leaving the base of the leeks to make a total of about 2 ounces. Dice the leeks, celery, and onion. This combination of vegetables is often called a white mirepoix (while a "normal" mirepoix substituting carrots for the leeks).
Melt the butter in a 3-1/2 quart or larger pot over low heat.
Add the onions, celery, and leeks to the melted butter and turn the heat up to medium-low. Stir the white mirepoix as it sweats until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
Add the flour to the mixture and continue to stir and cook over medium-low heat. Cook for about twelve minutes.
The flour mixture should have taken on a slightly yellowed appearance at this point.
While stirring, slowly pour the chicken broth into the pot. After all the broth has been incorporated into the flour mixture, keep stirring until there are no more lumps.
Now, slowly add milk to the pot. To keep from forming lumps, you'll want to pour a little milk at a time. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup milk into the pot and stir until it's been fully integrated into the flour. Repeat with 1/2 cup milk at a time until four cups of milk have been stirred in. At that point, it should be fine to pour in the last three cups of milk without lumps forming.
Bring the soup to a full boil, then simmer for 45 minutes (until smooth and thickened).In the meantime, prepare the ingredients for the final part of the recipe: 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon, and 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream. Lemon juice, salt, and pepper will be used for seasoning as well.
Wash the mushrooms.
Cut all the mushrooms into a fine dice. It's important to get the mushrooms cubes to be as uniform as possible so they will cook evenly. It also makes the final soup more attractive.
Set the mushrooms aside as the soup simmers.Latest Articles
Add the 1/4 teaspoon tarragon to the soup and stir in.
Add all the diced mushrooms to the soup and stir until evenly mixed.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. For my ingredients, I found that 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon table salt, and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper was just right.Cream of Mushroom Soup (makes about 3 quarts, approx. 10 servings)
| 4 ounces (110 g) butter | melt | sweat 6 min. | stir in and cook 12 min. | gradually stir in | stir in 1/2 cup at a time until 4 cups | stir in rest of milk | bring to boil | simmer 45 min. | fold in, simmer 10 min. | stir in, remove from heat | season to taste |
| 4 ounces (110 g) diced onions | wash and dice | ||||||||||
| 2 oz. (55 g) celery | |||||||||||
| 2 oz. (55 g) leeks | |||||||||||
| 1/3 cup (70 g) flour | |||||||||||
| 1 cup (235 mL) chicken broth or stock | |||||||||||
| 7 cups (1.65 L) whole milk | |||||||||||
| 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 450 g) button mushrooms | dice | ||||||||||
| 1/4 teaspoon (0.4 g) dried, ground tarragon | |||||||||||
| 1/2 cup (120 mL) heavy cream | |||||||||||
| lemon juice | |||||||||||
| salt | |||||||||||
| pepper | |||||||||||
your comment made me think of soymilk, which i've been working on using as dairy substitute for several recipes. fresh strong soymilk is good, but can't also be simmered for very long, as it tends to get grainy. neither will it thicken.
some people(who are avoiding the fat in creams) use mashed or milled boiled potatoes to thicken soups. this might work better if you want to avoid dairy.
or, you can opt for a clear mushroom soup. :) which is actually very good for you and it's a staple in many asian-oriental cuisines. you can even use Mr. Chu's recipe with just minor adjustments. Let me know if i can help.
kayenne
Omarkj, mushroom barley soup is a hearty alternative to a cream based soup. I usually saute up a mix of whatever mushrooms are looking good at the store and some shallots with olive oil until everything is caramelized. Add some barley and saute until it smells nutty. Follow up with some chicken or vegetable stock, thyme, and bay leaf, simmering until the barley is tender. Sometimes I add carrots and parsnips or some parsley and chervil, depends on my mood. Healthier than the cream based, but I love a cream based soup from time to time.
As a side note, evaporated milk sometimes is a decent, though not as tasty substitute for cream. It will give some of the same consistency while maintaining most of the same flavor.
I agree with earlier comment that coconut milk would probably overpower the mushroom flavour. Not to mention that it would probably be a lot "heavier" with coconut milk than with milk, even whole milk!
I agree with earlier comment that coconut milk would probably overpower the mushroom flavour. Not to mention that it would probably be a lot "heavier" with coconut milk than with milk, even whole milk!
Shoot. I knew I forgot something in the article. It makes about 3 quarts (10 sizable servings).
Using a wire whisk to incorporate the milk will help to avoid lumps forming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This recipe would probably still be delicious if you simply replaced all or some of the milk with stock and reduced or omitted the cream. Just one cup of milk and a dash of cream, in combination with the thickening effect of the flour, would give a convincingly creamy taste.
Some other suggestions:
Roasted cashewnuts, puréed with water until very smooth, make an excellent replacement for milk in soups.
To replace the cream, you could try liquidizing silken tofu with a dash of vegetable oil. Be careful not to allow the soup to come to the boil after you have added the tofu, as it may"split".
my penny thought
enjoy!
I assume you're using Internet Explorer since it didn't print. IE has always had a lot of difficulty printing tables in webpages. I haven't tried IE 7 yet, but I'm hoping they'll fix this.
I made a PDF of the recipe card (from Firefox) for you to download and print: here
This statement really confused me -- I thought to deveine must be some American term for a particular type of celery perparation with which I was not familiar.
A quick search on Google lead me to the French word déveine meaning rotten luck, which confused me even more!
It suddenly struck me that the word was in fact de-vein, as in to remove the tough veins from the celery.
Doh!
Thanks,
kharrison
HINT: this is also a good idea for those of you with gas burners who want a very low simmer; the cast iron gives off an even heat that prevents the hot spots that happen when you place a pan directly on the gas burner.
If you're looking to reduce the fat content, and cut out the cream, you might find (I haven't tried it) the the following trick works: to skim milk, add non-fat powdered milk until you have the consistency of cream. This is how they make non-fat "cream" for coffee, which you can also buy directly.
I've generally had good success using soy milk in place of regular milk (I have a lot of vegan friends), and I agree with the suggestion of pureed cashew for the cream. Pureed pine nuts also work amazingly well.
One other substitution comment: for those gluten-free cooks, potato or tapioca flour ought to work in place of the regular flour. I'd probably go potato, since I like the potato flavor in soup, but tapioca is plainer. I don't know, though, how to reduce the carbs. You can probably just leave it out, and have a thinner soup. I use xanthan for gluten-free baking, but haven't tried it in other contexts. Arrowroot is much more powerful than flour as a thickener, but breaks down upon boiling.
I wonder if those brown button mushroom will give a stronger mushroom taste...
Thanks for the recipe.
thx.
I blanched some cremini for a couple minutes in fully simmering water, then removed them and allowed them to cool for a minute so I could handle them. Then I took one and used a paring knife to cut the grooves. Just hold the knife over the mushroom cap and angle it 45 degrees. Then press the knife genlty down onto the cap so it cuts in (I don't use a slicing motion for this). Then I pull out the knife and angle it -45 degrees and press in removing a sliver of the mushroom cap. I repeated two more times to form a six pointed star.
It suddenly struck me that the word was in fact de-vein, as in to remove the tough veins from the celery.
Doh![/quote:1a9553e537]
Many errors, of a truth, consist merely in the application of the
wrong names of things--Spinoza
The soup is great and the recipe format is so simple and concise. So enjoy.
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
Haha, good point. I'll clarify my statement in the article. :)
This recipe has 7 cups whole milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream... am I missing something?
I hope I didn't confuse you. Thanks for your time
The problem is that this actually makes soup. The cans are (usually) condensed, so you'll have to take that into account. I don't have a can handy right now so I don't know how much liquid to subtract from the recipe.
As to debbie downer:
You really mean "everyone in the USA who was brought up with Campbell's canned soup." Most of my neighbors here in the SW of France wouldn't quite get it.
As the author lives in California, I don't think any claim was made with regards to understanding the taste or consistency of canned soup within the global marketplace. One may infer that this was a reference to Campbell's Soup. Perhaps you and your neighbors in France can look elsewhere for finding close to home canned-like recipes. Instead why don't you offer some constructive additions to a "Mushroom Soup Recipe" post or not bother next time.
hahah but anyways - your soup looks amazing- the pictures and instructions are brilliant!
substitute broccoli - or kale - or celery - or asparagus or . . .
the leeks are a flavoring addition of the onion family - if you don't like them, certainly you can substitute or omit to suite your own tastes.
if no one ever experimented, we'd all still be eating fresh apples . . . <g>