Day 14-Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

Last night while watching the late night news, they had a report about the increasing popularity of canned soups. I guess as the economy worsens, the more the soup businesses profit. Campbell's has been particularly hardy, apparently it has weathered over 28 recessions since it's inception. They call it the dollar menu, the one meal you can reliably get for a dollar. From what I understood, people are breaking out the can openers more than ever, probably because of a combination things, such as nostalgia, comfort food and tightening wallets.

When I was a university student, I would often use Campbell's condensed soups to make meals like beef and broccoli (with canned tomato soup) and Alfredo (using canned cream of celery). Not only was it cheap, but it was simple and quick to make, so I could get back to more important things, like...studying.

I wanted to create my own cream of mushroom soup recipe, but I wasn't quite sure what herbs to pair it with. If you like experimenting like I do, and wonder which food items go best with certain herbs, I found a simple site with some general guideline, click here to take a look.

Cream of wild mushroom Soup
Source: Krystal Ford

1 cup dehydrated wild mushroom mix chopped, which is roughly 1 oz dried. reserve soaking liquid (for instructions on dehydrating, see below)
1 cup of chicken stock
1 cup of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of flour
1-2 cloves of garlic
butter for sauteeing ( I leave it up to your discretion)
1/4 cups of white wine for deglazing
1/2 teaspoon or dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of corriander
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
To rehyrdate mushrooms, place in a bowl and barely cover the mushrooms with water. Soak for 1hr and half. Drain liquid into a separate bowl and reserve for soup.

Start boiling your chicken stock and reserved mushroom liquid in a soup pot. In a frying pan add butter and saute garlic. Add your chopped mushrooms to garlic and add rosemary. Saute for a few minutes and deglaze with white wine. Continue cooking for a minute or two until the liquid has mostly boiled off. In the mean time, in a separate bowl, add a bit of warm water (around 1/4 cup) to the the flour and whisk to form a watery paste, and get rid of any flour particles. Add to broth and whisk vigorously so no clumps can form. Add your cream, sauteed mushroom, herbs and seasonings, and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for a few more minutes. Presto, great homemade soup!