Cream of Mushroom Soup

Topic: Recipe
Cuisine: Continental

Modified from the recipe by Christopher Desens.

This recipes makes a LOT of soup so be prepared for leftovers or make this for at least 4 people.

4 oz Butter
4 oz Yellow Onion, chopped.
5 cups water
1 bouillon cube (chicken or vege)
6 oz Finely Shredding Smoked Gouda. Regular Gouda works just as well.
4 oz diced Celery. Sometimes grocery stores sell celery sticks at like the salad bar.
4 oz. flour
2 cups heavy cream.
1 clove Minced Garlic
1/2 cup Madeira. This wine is a pretty good wine for cooking. It has a sort of woody rustic flavor. Good with cheese too.
1-2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Thyme. Must be fresh or else it just doesn't taste as good.
6 oz Shitake Mushrooms sliced. If you get the ones from the Asian grocery store you can use the stems too so long as you cut them pretty finely.
Some shitake mushrooms for garnish. Usually just the leftover shrooms you have from when you bought them packaged.

1 tspn Salt.
Cracked black Pepper.


The Shitakes and the Thyme can be replaced with Portobellos and Parsley. Of course it's not the same but it tastes just as good and it's a hell lot cheaper and easier to find. Fresh Shitakes are best bought at asian grocery stores. Other "specialty" grocery stores tend to have pretty lame ass shrooms that are pretty dried out. I'm sure the Asian ones were set in water before packaged but at least they're not all bruised and crap. The Asian grocery stores sell them for a lot cheaper too.

Melt Butter in a large pot on medium heat.
When the butter starts to bubble add the garlic, celery, onion, and shrooms. Season with salt and saute until cooked. No need to brown the onion unless you like it like that.
Sprinkle flour while mixing to make a roux. Stir for about 5 minutes to coat all the ingredients and the roux has a relatively dark brownish grey color.
Stir in the bouillon, madeira, and thyme.
Add the water and then gradually stir in the cheese. Finally, stir in the cream.
After the cheese and cream has been added, be careful not to boil the soup or you're get some skin on top or stuff stuck at the bottom. If you're worried about bacteria and crap, before adding the cheese and cream, bring the soup to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a simmer and add the rest.

Use a hand blender to blend well and simmer until the it's a thick smooth consistency.

Saute the leftover sliced shrooms with a pinch of salt to taste and garnish the soup with a couple slices. Of course with vege bouillon it's vegetarian and it actually works. Stupid vegetarians. Here's your damned soup.