I was looking through my “pins” and came across this recipe for Mushroom Soup and thought it would be nice to make for dinner. I didn’t have cream and decided to tweak it for our tastes. There were a couple of speed bumps but in the end it was a lovely soup which I’ll make again.
To start I minced about 3 cloves of garlic and about a tablespoon of fresh thyme. Then I took about 2 cups of mushrooms and chopped them. I kept some sliced and then varied how chopped up the rest was for texture. I used a bit of olive oil and about a tablespoon of butter to saute the garlic and thyme.
After a couple of minutes toss in the mushrooms. I allowed them to brown a bit.
Next I added 1 cup of vegetable broth, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and a bay leaf. I brought this up to a simmer.
Now here comes the first speed bump. I should have listened to my instinct but for some reason I followed the recipe here. It called for dissolving 1 tablespoon of flour in 1 tablespoon of water. I thought this weird but did it anyways.
I put it into the soup and got lovely clumps of flour. Sigh. I managed to work in most of it. What I should have done was taken a few tablespoons of water for this. Next I added a full cup of 2% milk as that is what I had. This soup would work with cream, I mean what wouldn’t, but we don’t always need the extra calories. 
At this point I tasted for seasoning and it didn’t need any salt so I just added a bit of pepper. My second speed bump came when I was reheating it at dinnertime. I turned my back to do something and it boiled. Facepalm. So while the flavours were there it did come out a bit grainy.
One thing that was nice about this recipe is it said it was for two and that was accurate. I’ve come across recipes on my blogging journey that say it serves two and you look at the ingredients and you can tell it serves upwards of five! I don’t mind leftovers but a key to keeping your food budget down is portion control. Keeps your trouser size down as well. 😉
I just made a spinach stracciatella soup for dinner tonight, but now I’m wishing I made this – it looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!
– Jonathan I http://styleoverstress.wordpress.com
Your soup sounds really good as well. 🙂
It must be cold everywhere, because I have fettuccine shrimp soup for tonight planned. Your soup sounds very yummy though too! 🙂
That sounds yummy as well. 🙂
This sounds like a goo d bowl of soup, speed bumps and all. I like the hit of Worcestershire sauce and am glad it worked without the heavy cream. I like heavy cream but sometimes it can mask the other flavors, like the taste of the mushrooms in mushroom soup.
You’re right in that cream can overpower if you aren’t careful. This was a good comfort soup without being heavy.
This looks really good! I tend to make mushroom soup in a very similar manner, but I skip the flour, process the mushroom and onion mixture in the food processor or blender (it thickens up nicely without the flour!) before adding cream or milk and a little bit of sherry – it turns out magnificent!
As to leftovers – I generally try to avoid those, but in case of soup, you can always, always freeze it in little tupperware boxes. Frozen, it keeps forever and makes a great speedy lunch or supper, as it reheats easily in a microwave or in a pan on stovetop. 🙂
Good tips, thanks. 🙂
I’m not fond of soup but I have to say I’m going to try this one:)
It’s very easy to make and not heavy.
Yum… I just made cauliflower soup today.
How did that come out? For me cauliflower is incredibly bitter.
This soup recipe is just about right for the snow we are about to have. Very winter warming.
It really is. And I think winter is here to stay despite the spring temps we had earlier this week. 🙂
Looks delicious!!
Thanks. 🙂 I hadn’t made it before but I was pleased with the results.
Great that you are sharing the ‘speed bumps’ as well so we can all learn from them. Have you ever tried to include porcini soaking water in a mushroom soup? It’s makes it much more ‘mushroomy’…
We love porcini but it is very expensive here when we can find it. Sometimes our store has dried porcini. It has a wonderful flavour.
I should have specified that I meant dry porcini. When you reconstitute them, the soaking water will take on a wonderful taste and smell that will be a great addition to your soup. An ounce of dried porcini is enough to make a difference, and of course you can also add the reconstituted porcini to the soup.
Fresh porcini are very expensive everywhere (unless you are near a forest where you can pick your own), and usually not even really fresh and thus not worth it. If I can get good fresh porcini, I agree that I would not use them to make soup!
Oh I meant dried. I have never seen fresh over here. :(. Which is such a shame!