Wild Mushroom Soup

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs wild mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, more to taste
• 6 cups vegetable stock

Recipe

• 1 clean all the mushrooms before chopping (wipe with damp paper towel, or remove dirt with small mushroom brush).
• 2 melt butter and olive oil in soup pot on medium heat.
• 3 add shallot, cook until beginning to caramelize, stirring infrequently.
• 4 add mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their liquid and liquid has mostly evaporated.
• 5 add broth and any soaking liquid, scraping up browned bits. bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until mushrooms are tender. adjust seasoning.
• 6 remove from heat, cool slightly. puree soup with stand blender (in batches) or immersion blender until smooth. (add more liquid if you want it thinner: broth or water would do.).
• 7 serve.
• 8 notes * i used a combination of fresh mushrooms including cremini, chanterelle, hen of the woods (maitake), and beech (bunashimeji). for depth of flavor, i added some some dried shiitake mushrooms. soak dried mushrooms in 1-2 cups hot water for 30-60 minutes before use; add the liquid with the broth (discard sediment; if using shiitakes, discard stems too, they are tough). * instead of separating the thyme leaves, you can just tie a bunch of sprigs together and fish the bundle out before pureeing. * the original recipes suggested leaving it half-pureed and "rustic" but i found it grainy so i pureed it completely. * this soup can be made ahead. reserve 1-2 cups broth and add it while reheating on medium-low. * this is what i did for garnish per serving. when the butter and olive oil were hot, i cooked some pretty slices of cremini and reserved them. on each serving i drizzled about 1 tsp cream, eyedroppered very few drops of truffle oil, sprinkled a couple of thyme leaves, and floated a reserved mushroom slice.