Pureed Mushroom Soup Recipes

PURéED MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• Place the dried porcinis in a bowl or pyrex measuring cup and cover with 2 cups boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes. Line a strainer with cheesecloth and set over a bowl. Drain the porcinis through a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Squeeze the mushrooms over the strainer to extract as much flavorful liquid as possible. Rinse in several changes of water and set aside. Measure the mushroom soaking water and add water or stock to make 6 cups.
• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add the onion and leek and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender and, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not brown. Add a generous pinch of salt and the garlic and cook, stirring, until the garlic smells fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the fresh and reconstituted mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they begin to sweat and smell fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add the rice, stock, bouquet garni, soy sauce and salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni and the parmesan rind if using.
• In batches, blend the soup until smooth. Fill the blender less than half way and cover the top with a towel pulled down tight, rather than airtight with the lid, because hot soup will jump and push the top off if the blender is closed airtight. Return to the pot, taste and adjust salt, and add pepper and the sherry, if using. Add the milk or another half cup of stock and heat through, stirring. If the soup still seems too thick, thin out a little more but remember to taste and adjust seasoning. Serve in espresso cups or in bowls, garnishing each serving with chopped or torn flat-leaf parsley.

DELMONICO'S PUREE OF PORTABELLA MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt together the olive oil and butter, then add the onion, celery, and leeks, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the cleaned and trimmed sliced portabellos, garlic, and thyme and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring often.
• Add the sherry and sauté until the liquid is reduced to about 1 tablespoon, about 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add the stock and increase temperature to bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes; season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Puree batches of soup in a well-covered blender, processing until smooth and all the soup has been made creamy.
• Return soup to saucepan and make sure it's all heated through.
• Garnish servings with Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!
• Source: LA Times, Jan 26, 2005.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP WITH SHERRY

Steps:

• Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat.
• Add onion, carrot, and celery; saute 6 minutes or until tender.
• Reduce heat to medium; add mushrooms and garlic.
• Cook 7 minutes or until mushrooms are tender, stirring frequently.
• Add water, sage, salt, pepper, and broth; bring to a simmer.
• Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
• Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes.
• Place half of mushroom mixture in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.
• Pour pureed soup into a large bowl.
• Repeat procedure with remaining mushroom mixture.
• (NOTE: You can also use a stick blender and puree the soup in the pot.) Return soup to pan.
• Stir in half-and-half and sherry; cook over low heat 5 minutes or until throughly heated, stirring frequently.
• Sprinkle each serving with minced fresh parsley and/or parmesan cheese.

CHEF JOHN'S CREAMY MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat; cook mushrooms in butter with 1 pinch salt until the mushrooms give off their juices; reduce heat to low. Continue to cook, stirring often, until juices evaporate and the mushrooms are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Set aside a few attractive mushroom slices for garnish later, if desired. Mix onion into mushrooms and cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 more minutes.
• Stir flour into mushroom mixture and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes to remove raw flour taste. Tie thyme sprigs into a small bundle with kitchen twine and add to mushroom mixture; add garlic cloves. Pour chicken stock and water into mushroom mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. Remove thyme bundle.
• Transfer soup to a blender in small batches and puree on high speed until smooth and thick.
• Return soup to pot and stir in cream. Season with salt and black pepper and serve in bowls, garnished with reserved mushroom slices and a few thyme leaves.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• Method
• In the medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons/28 g of the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, then add the mushrooms and the remaining butter. Let the mixture sweat for about 8 minutes, taking care that the onion doesn't take on any brown color. Stir in the chicken stock and the parsley and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour.
• After an hour, remove the parsley and discard. Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the blender and carefully blend at high speed until smooth. Do I have to remind you to do this in stages, with the blender's lid firmly held down, and with the weight of your body keeping that thing from flying off and allowing boiling hot mushroom purée to erupt all over your kitchen?
• When blended, return the mix to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring up to a simmer again. Add the sherry, mix well, and serve immediately.
• Improvisation
• To astound your guests with a Wild Mushroom Soup, simply replace some of those button mushrooms with a few dried cèpes or morels, which have been soaked until soft, drained, and squeezed. Not too many; the dried mushrooms will have a much stronger taste, and you don't want to overwhelm the soup. Pan sear, on high heat, a single small, pretty, fresh chanterelle or morel for each portion, and then slice into a cute fan and float on top in each bowl.
• And if you really want to ratchet your soup into pretentious (but delicious), drizzle a few tiny drops of truffle oil over the surface just before serving. Why the hell not? Everybody else is doing it.