Cream of Mushroom Soup
Now some of you will no doubt already snarled your noses because it is mushroom soup. Others will be “why make it I can get it in a can already.” That canned stuff can be convenient, and it has the wonder of being ever predictable, but a gray lump of congealed soup even thinned out is still a gray lump of congealed soup. This recipe is rather simple and a copy of a soup that a once thriving caterer served here in St. Louis. When it is done you may never go back to canned and yes it does work in green bean casserole.
2T butter
1 medium onion white or yellow sliced
8 oz washed, and sliced mushrooms
3 c beef stock or soup base
¼ c Heavy cream
1 to 1 ½ oz blue cheese per cup of stock
1 t Garlic powder
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
Mashed potato flakes
Black pepper to taste
Sautee the sliced onion in the butter over medium heat. You are trying to soften them and slightly caramelize them not cook to oblivion.
Add your stock, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire and bring to a boil.
Once boiling add your heavy cream.
On return to boiling add the blue cheese, it is important the cream goes in first then comes back to a boil or you get a gooey lump of blue cheese and it won’t melt in.
Now add your mushrooms.
Kill the heat!
Add enough potato flakes to thicken to your preference, but remember it takes a minute or so for that effect to set up.
Serve with garlic bread or salad.
Bon Appitie
Variations!
Gorgonzola will work in place of blue cheese. Feta also works and gives it a different flavor that is more subtle.
Use finely diced or minced onion, with finely chopped mushrooms, thicken a bit extra and you have an amazing mushroom gravy. If you leave out the mushrooms you get an amazing onion gravy.
You can up the onion and leave out the mushrooms and you get a rich and creamy onion soup.
