Mushroom and Brie Soup

It’s winter and I think this season I’m going to do a lot of soups and stews.  Gardening Zone 5B, after all!  And already we’ve had too much snow.   (Two towns east… no snow except leftover shoveling piles from the nor’easter over a week ago.)

Serve and enjoy…

I adapted this recipe from The View from Great Island.

Essentially, I reduced the size of the recipe, since I wasn’t going to be sharing this time around.

Onions and garlic sautéing in no-salt butter.

I’d bought shallots, but they ended up being used in the pumpkin soup from last week.  So, mostly onion plus a little leek – I saw baby leeks of scallion size in the supermarket last week, and nabbed them.  Never saw them before, so what I recommend for leeks below is for the adult, more common, variant.  Fresh thyme would likely be best, but the supermarket fresh thyme was in pathetic shape.  Punt.

Soup before any of the dairy. Or, the pureeing.

Seeing Brie with mushrooms included in the cheese had me reach for that rather than the plain French Brie (of the same price).

Prep Time:  15 minutes (the rest can occur while other parts cook).
Cook Time:  25 + 15 + 15 + 10 = 1 hour.
Rest Time:  not required.
Serves:  2-3.
Cuisine:  European
Leftovers:  Yes.  Nuke or use stove top.

 

•    15 ounces / 425 grams mushrooms, I chose cremini/baby Bella.  Remove dirt by wiping, if any, and quarter them.  If you use shiitake, remove the stems.  
•    1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee. 
•   2 large shallots or 1 medium onion or 1-2 leeks (whites).  Diced. 
•   1-2 cloves of chopped garlic.  
•   3/4 tablespoon flour.  (There’s so little I think it is fine to omit if you wish!)
•   1.25 cups / 300 mL chicken or vegetable low sodium broth.  (You are welcome to knotch it up a bit with home-made!)
•   1/4 cup / 60 mL Marsala wine. 
•   Pepper and salt to taste.  It’s not much!
•   1 tablespoon thyme.  Fresh is perhaps best, but I used dried.  
•   1.5 teaspoons dried tarragon. 
•   4 ounces Brie cheese, ideally with mushroom inclusions, peeled and chunked.
•    1/4 cup / 60 mL heavy cream.    

Preheat your oven to 400 F / 205 C.

Toss your DRY mushroom pieces onto an oven-ready pan, and add nothing else.  Place in aforementioned oven for 20-25 minutes, periodically pulling them out to toss, to keep from burning.

While this is happening, melt your butter or ghee in a large deep skillet at medium heat, and when melted, sauté your onion/shallot/leeks, for 5 – 10 minutes, or until beginning to get translucent.  Then, add the minced garlic.

Let this sauté for another five minutes, or until everything is surely soft.

Add the flour, and mix in; the butter will prevent lumping.

Now it’s time for fun with vino… pour in the Marsala and deglaze the skillet.

Yes, there’s a reason you are using a large skillet…. next add in the mushrooms, and the chicken/veggie broth, the thyme and tarragon.   Allow to simmer lightly, not boil…, for around 15 minutes.   Cover during this process.  Taste, add a little salt and freshly ground pepper.  Oh, yes, turn the oven off!  😉

Using an immersion blender (and a deeper container!!!!) blend this to your preferred level of chunkiness.  I like a little chunk to remain in most of my soups.   You may have to do this in divided batches, depending on your container and/or how much soup you are making.

Add the dairy items…. the cream and the Brie… and mix occasionally, until everything melts.

If you judge it thicker than you’d like, add more broth.

Return to heat, briefly, and taste.  Adjust seasonings as desired.

Serve, with garnishes of your choice:  fresh mushroom?  Fresh thyme or tarragon?  Scallion shreds?  In my case, I went with thinly sliced slivers of that baby leek mentioned above.  And a little dried tarragon.

This delicious recipe is being shared at:   Fiesta Friday, where this week’s co-hosts are:   Alex @ Turks Who Eat and Zeba @ Food For The Soul.   As usual, it promises to be a good party.
Also being shared at What’s for Dinner, Sunday Link-Up, for next Sunday’s food ideas.

And, over at Blurred Living: Let’s Party, for more dining (and holiday) ideas.