Cream of Mushroom Soup

Straightforward cream of mushroom soup has deep flavor and none of that paste-y consistency that comes when you add thickeners.

Ingredients

• 3tbsp butter (ish)
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 20oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1.5c water
• 2c chicken stock (you could probably substitute for veg)
• 1/2oz dried mushrooms - we used oyster mushrooms, though porcinis would be good.
• 1/6c dry sherry (we actually used Marsala, which worked very well.)
• 1/2c heavy cream
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• salt to taste

Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook until translucent, then add the garlic and nutmeg. Cook for another 30 seconds (until fragrant) and add the creminis. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, then set heat to low and cover. Let them cook 15-20 minutes, stirring (again) occasionally. Add the stock, water, and dried mushrooms and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes (probably don't have to stir at all). Then, working in batches (or however you want to do it), blend the soup in a blender. You might be able to get away with an immersion blender here, but I'm not sure. Anyway, return to the pot and add the sherry, cream, and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.

Thoughts: This was actually kind of time-consuming, but only because it was the first time we made it, I think, and we wanted to watch it all the time. Otherwise, the flavor was fantastic. I think we did something really smart here. Only complaint I think could be legitimately raised is that there isn't a lot of textural variety. I'm not sure what I would want to fix that. Probably some crusty bread would do the trick, or something equivalent. Not sure. Anyway, definitely make this soup.

Disaster Index: 1/10