Cream of Mushroom Soup

I love sandwiches. In fact, I have been mulling over the idea of getting a giant party sub to share for my birthday. So when my friend Devin told me about a new sandwich place in our neighborhood, I had to go. I visited Sky Blue Sky on Sunday, and upon walking in, instantly fell in love with the smell of coffee and grilling sandwiches, and the red checkerboard table cloths. I opted for the One Wing (as also recommended by Devin), which was a solid choice, and I got to enjoy my sandwich hiding in a booth with a mug of coffee and a Now Magazine. A welcome addition to the neighborhood!

For $4.99 I enjoyed, "thinly sliced oven roasted turkey with cream cheese, cranberry sauce and a hint of stuffing served on cranberry and cream cheese bread." This was what was left of it before I even thought to take a quick phone pic.

Anyways, on to the soup. I found the recipe for this Not Your Average Cream of Mushroom Soup, on the WillCookForFriends blog and decided to give it a go, even though it felt like spring today in Toronto. I used an organic mushroom medley I found pre-cut at Loblaws, also added more button mushrooms, and a few slices of Portobello mushrooms. As for the dried mushrooms, I used a combination of Porcini and Shiitake. It turned out well, I took a lighter route with skim milk, and obviously took the suggestion of substituting a cup of the broth for white wine. I used the Jackson Triggs chardonnay pictured below. Instead of a food processor, I used an immersion blender, which works just as well. I also found I did not chop up my mushrooms enough, so I also used the immersion blender at the end to puree the soup a little bit.

Jalapeno cheese bread from Cobs to accompany the soup :)

Cream of Mushroom Soup (from WillCookForFriends)

3 TBSP butter (or olive oil)
1 large onion - fine to medium chop
3-4 cloves garlic - minced
1 oz. dried mushrooms, Shiitake, Porcini, or mixed - rehydrated in 1 cup boiling water
1.5 lbs fresh mushrooms, button, Cremini, Shiitake, or mixed - roughly sliced or chopped into chunks
1/4 cup flour
3-4 cups mushroom stock (or other vegetable stock - optionally can replace up to 1 cup with white wine)
1/2 cup milk or cream (or milk substitute - soy, almond, rice, etc.)
Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over dried mushrooms and set aside to rehydrate. Prep other ingredients - gently wipe fresh mushrooms clean with a damp cloth or paper towel, remove any woody stems, and slice/chop mushrooms and onion.
In a large heavy bottom pot over medium heat, combine butter (or oil), onion, and garlic. Let cook 7-10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
Add fresh mushrooms and stir to combine. Let cook another 7-10 minutes. Season with a little salt to help draw out some of the juices.
While the mushrooms cook, pour dried mushrooms along with their soaking liquid into the bowl of your food processor. Blend to a paste, as smooth or chunky as you like, then add to the pot. (This step can be replaced with running your knife through the rehydrated mushrooms a few times before adding them to the soup, but I find they can sometimes be a little chewy if not chopped fine enough). Add flour, and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Increase heat to high, and add the stock and white wine, if using, to the pot. Stir thoroughly, then bring to a boil to thicken.
Reduce heat to low and pour in the milk, cream, or milk substitute. Season with salt and fresh black pepper to taste, and serve

I'd also like to holla at my cousin Liam (to the left), who celebrated his birthday on Saturday (present pictured below). Here's to another 26 years of being BFF in matching sweaters! Thank you for your constant love and support (because you are probably the only person who reads this blog), and also always looking out for me. Saturday evening was spent watching Liam drink about a million Prairie Fire shots and give Chris noogies :)