This Cream of Mushroom soup should not have the same name as the "stuff" in a can at the grocery store. It is rich, velvety, full of flavor, and perfectly heart-warming on a cold Winter's day. (It is -5 degrees as I write this.) A traditional meal at an estate the caliber of Downton Abbey would likely serve 2 varieties of soups during the Soup Course. We will do the same. Here is the first of our two soup recipes for our Downton Abbey feast. Don't be intimidated to try it. It isn't difficult, and only takes about an hour to prepare. Plus you'll get practice at making a Velouté sauce, one of the five "Mother Sauces", which will come in handy in the future, I promise. Believe me, this soup is spectacular.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the Velouté:
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
For the Soup:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 pound mushrooms (such as crimini, porcini, or baby bella), minced
- 2 shallots, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon saffron
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium-sized pot or large saucepan, bring chicken stock to a simmer.
- In a separate pot over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of butter until it stops foaming, and then stir in the flour. Stir constantly until flour is cooked but not browned, about 4 minutes.
- Gradually whisk the warm stock into the roux (flour/butter mixture), and let simmer for 20-25 minutes, whisking frequently. It will thicken/reduce a bit and have a velvety appearance.
- While the velouté simmers,prepare the mushroom base: In a saute pan over medium heat,melt the butter. Add the minced shallots and mushrooms to the pan. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, and simmer, covered, until the shallots are translucent and the mushrooms are tender and have released their moisture. Add saffron.
- Purée the mushroom mixture with an immersion blender, or using a blender until very smooth and no mushroom pieces remain.
- Strain the mushroom purée through a fine-mesh sieve and add to the velouté. Stir the mushroom mixture into the velouté until fully incorporated and simmer for 15 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and heavy cream together. Very slowly ladle some of the soup into the egg/cream mixture. If you add the hot soup too quickly, you will scramble the eggs, so go SLOWLY! (This is called tempering the eggs.) Continue whisking and gradually adding soup to the egg/cream mixture until you've added about 5 cups of the soup to the egg/cream mixture, then pour it all back into the soup pot and simmer for 10 minutes, being careful not to allow it to boil. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Notes
Note: A Velouté sauce is one of the five renowned French "Mother Sauces", so practicing this useful technique will be helpful in a variety of other recipes.
Recipe adapted from The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook by Emily Ansara Baines.
bakeritalia
Delicious! For some reason I didn't get this on my readers list? I love the look for your website but it is not as easy to get to (or is this just me?) By the looks of things I have missed a lot of your blogs....must catch up. :0)
mandyjoy
A month or so ago I switched from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress.org. Sadly that means that my posts no longer show up in my followers' WordPress readers unless you add me to your reader again by clicking "edit" on "blogs I follow" on your reader and then type in kitchenjoyblog.com in the space at the top where you can add any blog you want to follow. I didn't realize I wasn't showing up anymore until yesterday. So glad you found me again! Sorry for the confusion! I loved your Christmas post, by the way!
Happy New Year!
Jenny B
Mmmm, great sounding recipe! I once tried to make cream of mushroom soup and grabbed almond milk out of the fridge instead of heavy cream... oops. :) I'll be sure not to make that mistake when I try your version!
mandyjoy
Oh dear! Now I know not to try that. :) Thanks for reading!
Bali Tour
the food looks nice
thank you for the recipe