Nothing whatsoever, in any way, shape or form, like Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. Enough said!
This little recipe has, for 6 servings, just 1/4 cup of heavy cream in it. If you were to eat a bowl of it, you’d be eating about a tablespoon of cream. That’s it. And that gives it a unctuous creamy quality. Not a pale-looking creamy, but a full-blown creamy. What it also has in it is a LOT of mushrooms (a full 2 pounds for those 6 servings). And a ton of flavor. If you love mushrooms like I do, then you’ll need to do yourself a favor and make this soup. What it doesn’t have in it is a lot of stick-to-your-ribs carbs or tummy fillers like potatoes or rice. It also doesn’t have any thickener in it at all. What this contains is mushrooms, broth, herbs, and a jot of brandy, along with that little tiny bit of cream. Therefore, it’s very low calorie. 190 calories per serving, actually. Probably not enough, as it is, to fill you up for lunch of dinner. I made it the other night with several baguette slices with Parmigiano cheese sprinkled on top. Very loverly, as the saying goes. The recipe came from Food52, and was one of the winners of their contest in the mushroom soup category. It’s also in that new book I was telling you about, the The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks.
What I liked: the really strong, full-of-character mushroom flavor. There is no question this is a mushroom soup, in other words. Those mushrooms have to be washed, cleaned, and precisely chopped (something the soup developer, MrsWheelbarrow, suggested). But they truly offer lots of flavor – the more varieties the better. This recipe calls for crimini and whatever kind of mixed mushrooms you can buy.
What I didn’t like: I’d have liked the soup to have a bit more toothsome substance – which is why I might add just a couple of tablespoons of rice to the soup maybe. With the leftover soup I added some small bites of cooked potato (that I had leftover). Or I’d thicken it with some flour just for texture. Even so, will I make this again? Absolutely.
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Creamy Mushroom Soup
Recipe By: A winner of a Food52 contest
Serving Size: 6
NOTES: If you like a bit more subtance to the soup, add in a bit of rice (maybe 3 T. or so) or use some (leftover) cooked potato that you cube up and heat just at the end. Don’t COOK the potatoes in it as they’ll likely disintegrate. You don’t want that. You can also add some milk or fat-free half and half to this to make another serving or so. It doesn’t appear to dilute the flavor.
1 pound mushrooms — mixed variety, cleaned, stems separated from caps
1 pound cremini mushrooms — cleaned, stems separated from caps
1/2 cups minced shallot
6 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
1/4 cups cognac
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
4 cups chicken stock — rich homemade [I used Penzey's soup base]
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped chives
1. Rough chop the mushroom stems and simmer them, covered, in the chicken broth for about an hour.
2. In the meantime, heat the oil in a large skillet, and saute the shallots until transparent. Add the herbs and salt & pepper liberally.
3. Beautifully and precisely chop the mushroom caps into a 1/2″ dice. Add them to the shallots as they are chopped. Keep the heat very low and cook gently until the mushroom liquid is released and reabsorbed [about 20 minutes or so]. Shake the pan so they don’t stick. Remove the thyme and rosemary. [I didn't do that step as I used dried herbs.]
4. Turn up the heat and add the cognac. Flame it if you’re feeling really chef-y. Cook the mushroom cap/shallot mixture down (after cognac) until well reduced and starting to turn a little golden on the edges.
5. Strain the mushroom stems from the chicken broth [and discard them].
6. Add the beautiful mushroom cap and shallot mixture to the strained broth and heat gently.
7. Swirl in the cream and chives and serve. Or serve in small sipping cups topped with chives and lightly whipped cream, if you want to get fancy.
Per Serving: 190 Calories; 12g Fat (59.5% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 14mg Cholesterol; 1445mg Sodium (this sodium cannot be accurate – it assumes you’re using very salty chicken broth).





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