Cream of Mushroom Soup

I took my mom to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA and then we had a late lunch at the Kennett Square Inn. This town is famous for its mushrooms, and we had a delicious cream of mushroom soup...could have eaten several bowls! Then we walked around to peruse the local shops, and found The Mushroom Cap, where I ended up getting an assortment of shiitake, oyster, portobello, cremini and button mushrooms. Time to look for mushroom soup recipes!!

You generally can't go wrong with Ina Garten's recipes, so mine is based on this one. However, I adapted based on what I had available as I didn't feel like making a trip to the grocery store, and also reduced the butter and cream because...good lord, Ina...it's still good with less. Subbed a coffee stout for the white wine. It definitely added a dark and bitter note, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Also I generally don't bother with making my own stock, but 1) I didn't have any boxed stock, 2) I had some old carrots and celery moments away from being tossed, so obviously it was good to use those up. If you use boxed stock, I would maybe simmer it with your mushroom stems to extract that goodness.

Soup is forgiving, so use whatcha got in whatever quantities ya got!

Mushroom stock:
- mushroom stems
- roughly chopped carrots
- roughly chopped celery
- 1 onion, roughly chopped, including peel
- any other veggie peels, odds & ends
- 1 Tbl olive oil
- 1 tsp salt

Rest o' the soup:
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1-2 lbs assorted mushrooms (cremini/baby bellas are good if you can't find a variety), sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
- a few garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup stout, or other beer, or white wine
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup half & half
- Optional: dash of Worcestershire sauce and/or balsamic vinegar

To make the stock, heat olive oil in a large pot and saute the veggies for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add 6 cups of water and the salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Strain and discard solids.

Heat butter in a large pot and saute onions until soft. Add the mushroom caps and cook for about 10 minutes, until browned & tender. Add garlic and a little salt & pepper, and cook for about a minute. Add flour, cook for a minute and then add stout. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add the mushroom stock and thyme. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Optional - run an immersion blender briefly through the soup, or puree 1-2 cups of it in a blender. You still want some nice mushroom pieces. Then reduce heat to low and add the half & half (use cream if you want; 2% milk or even non-dairy milk will probably work too). Add a dash of Worcestershire and/or balsamic vinegar if you want a little more depth. Taste for salt & pepper.

I also ended up adding a little instant mashed potato flakes at the end to thicken it up some more!