Mushroom Soup

I happened to find myself with about 2lbs of fresh mushrooms in the fridge, and anyone who has ever purchased large amounts of fresh mushrooms knows they create a ticking clock in the back of the mind - dawdle just a bit too long, and one is left with a nasty brown slime where once there were lovely fungi.

So I rushed home from my day of mentoring, cogitating upon things to do with mushrooms. I decided upon a soup. Not the cream-of-mushroom soup of my childhood, which tasted great poured over chicken parts and baked (see the recipe for that further below), but something where the star vegetable was chunkier and featured more prominently in the dish. I was out of onions and heavy cream, but had some fresh rosemary in the fridge and (hurrah!) some bacon in the freezer. The whole thing was quite delicious, though not as thick as I wanted. The recipe below is pretty much exactly what I did, but you might use heavy cream our more roux to get that thicker version.

Mushroom soup

4 slices of bacon, cut into chunks
3/4 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced, stems reserved
3/4 lb shitake mushrooms, sliced, stems reserved
4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin (reserve one peeled and whole)
3-4 cups water
chicken bouillon mix (I used the stuff that comes in a jar)
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
4 Tbsp butter
2/3 c whole milk
2 Tbsp flour

In a small saucepan, simmer the mushroom stems and the whole clove of garlic for about 20 mins to make a mushroom stock.

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, brown the bacon until the pieces are crispy. Remove the crispy bacon and drain on a paper towel. Add the sliced mushrooms and garlic to the bacon fat and cook over a medium low heat until the mushrooms are just soft. Add the rosemary and cook a bit more. Strain the mushroom stock through a sieve and add the chicken bouillon, about 2 tsps of it. Add the stock mixture to the mushrooms and cook all that for about 5-10 mins.

Now add about 2 Tsps of butter and the milk to the mushrooms, and get that simmering. Melt the remaining butter in a heavy saucepan and then add the flour. Cook, stirring, for about 3 mins. Add liquid from the mushroom pot in 1/2 cupfuls to the flour mixture, stirring vigorously. When you have a thick sauce, scrape all that back into the soup pot and cook for another 10 mins or so over medium hot. Taste and check for salt (I didn't need any because the bacon and bouillon together were already salty). Serve garnished with the crispy bacon.

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When I was in grade school, my mother decided to pursue and MBA and started attending classes every Monday night. This left my brother, my stepfather and I to trade off cooking duties. We stuck with admirable consistency to a rotation of the same dishes: my brother made macaroni and cheese with sliced hot dogs on top, my stepfather made 3-alarm chili, and I made chicken with mushroom sauce, rice and peas. Eventually my mother abandoned her plans for higher education. However, I've never forgotten the recipe for that chicken, which is quite tasty, if not exactly wholesome.

Baked Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce

1 chicken cut into individual pieces (actually, this is even better with just chicken thighs - I think the recipe would easily cover 6-8 of them)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small container heavy cream
salt, pepper, paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the chicken pieces, pat them dry, and salt and pepper them. Place them skin side up in a baking dish. Mix the can of soup with the heavy cream and resist the urge to start eating this by the spoonful. Pour the soup mixture over the chicken and sprinkle the whole dish with paprika. Bake for 1 hour, or until the chicken is done. Serve with white rice and peas. Make your brother do the dishes.