Ingredients
1 pound of Cremini or Chanterelles mushrooms
1 pound of a small button or Morels mushrooms
1 pound of Stiitskes or Enoki mushrooms
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
2 medium lemons, zest and juiced
1/2 cup of diced shallots
4 to 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 bay leaves, fresh if possible
1 quart of half and half
1 1/2 cups of veggie or chicken stock, low salt
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup of fresh Italian Parsley, chopped and stems removed
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions
Reserve 1 cup of the whole Shiitakes for later.
Place the remaining mushrooms in the food processor along with the lemon juice and zest and pulse to dice. You want them about the size of large bread crumbs. If you can not fit all the mushrooms in the processor at once divide the mushrooms, lemon juice, and zest into a few batches.
Melt butter in a large deep soup pot over medium-high heat, add shallots and saute until soft. Next, add diced mushrooms and reduce heat to medium and saute until most of the liquids ate gone from mushrooms, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Now add half and half and stock, tie thyme and bay leaves together with twine and add to the pot, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduces heat to medium-low and simmers for about 30 minutes, you want a simmer, not a rolling boil.
At just about the end of the 30 minutes, taste the soup and salt and pepper to taste, next remove a 1/3 of a cup of the hot soup mixture, just the liquids and mix with the flour together, whisk until completely smooth and add the mixture to the soup and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes.
While the soup is on the last 15 to 20 minutes, place olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining Shiitakes and the garlic to the skillet and saute until soft, about 5 to 8 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
Remove Thyme/Bay leaves from soup, taste to see if additional salt and pepper are needed. If Great, remove from heat and get ready to plate.
Place a small pile of the saute Shiitakes at the bottom of each bowl, this recipe makes about 8 servings, Next ladle soup over Shiitakes and sprinkle with the parsley and serve with a nice Baguette and a bit of Brie.
I did not say this was light.
Enjoy Cooking