A cream of mushroom soup that is a bit Downton Abbey - esque, if you want it to. Or downright rustic, if you wish.


I don't know what's up with me and soup, lately. I mean, what's up with me, soup and this blog, really, because I cook plenty of soups all year round, I just... never seem to post any!! I believe this one was my first ever post on soup here at the blog. And yet, I had spent all the previously Fall and Winter cooking up batch after batch of soups that would freeze well so we could eat them all week long! Why it never crossed my mind to post a recipe on my own blog, I will never know!


Actually, I kind of do know!! I never felt that my soups were worthy of a blog post, never saw them as interesting enough, or refined enough or gourmet enough to post a recipe, let alone bother taking photographs of. That cauliflower soup was the first one I deemed as interesting enough to grant it a spot on my blog. Because it was a bit outside the box, at least for me, what with the duck stock and the red lentils and the cauliflower, but mostly because it was so so so delicious. It went beyond the healthy and nutritious that I want my family soups to be, to an upper level: that of being beautifully achieved, and beautifully photographable. But this Fall I have been on a craze with soups.


To the point where I find myself asking myself - a bit bipolar, I know! - who cares if it is not a posh, fancy shmancy soup? Who cares if it's an everyday kind of soup, the kind that will coat your belly with tons of veggies and leave you all warm and fuzzy inside? I'm a home cook, not a chef! Actually, I'm a homemaker not an entrepreneur, so why not share what I actually really do to turn this house into a home? Like simple, plain soups, filled with nutrients and vitamins, and warmth and love. I'm betting there'll be more soups to come, here at this blog (in fact, I know there's a couple more soup recipes I so want to share!) and they will be the kind of family dinner soups we eat every night, but not this one. No, not this one.


This one's a bit more on the fancy side, a mushroom soup that takes some time to be pulled together, a soup I wouldn't freeze but would serve as a meal, alongside a chunk of smouldering, crusty, out of the oven bread, some paté or other to spread over thick slices, a glass of wine to wash it all down. A creamy soup, filled with the flavours of the woods, that takes the mind and the heart onto a journey to faraway lands, a soup that makes one dream of other lifestyles, other life choices, filled up with peaceful moments and time, time to let the world simmer away with your soup, time where one can just relax and live the slow paced life. A soup that also screams of Downton Abbey - esque dinner parties in my mind, served as an entrée by a liveried young man with a poker face, round a table where guests sit in their best evening attire...


So, if by chance you happen to want to throw a Downton Abbey themed party this Halloween, here's how you can go about making this soup:
  • 400 gr white or brown buttom mushrooms
  • 1 onion
  • 2 garlic cloves + 1 garlic clove
  • 4 medium sized potatoes
  • vegetable stock or water
  • salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
  • a pinch of thyme
  • 1 cup heavy cream
Start by cleaning and chopping your mushrooms. Set aside 100gr and reserve. Peel and dice the onion and two of the garlic cloves, frying them up in a glug of good olive oil. Once they're transparent, add the mushrooms and allow them to cook slightly. Peel and dice the potatoes and toss them in with the mushrooms, the onion and garlic. Cover with vegetable stock, or water, and allow to cook until the potatoes are coming apart. Season to taste and using a blender, purée the soup. Make sure you do get every piece into a purée, and if you wish to really make sure there are no bits and chunks left, sieve it into another pan. Place the soup back on the stove and add the cream, tasting to make sure it's well seasoned. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let simmer for about ten minutes. In the meanwhile, turn on the oven at 180º, grab the rest of the mushrooms and the one clove of garlic left over, dice and fry in an oven appropriate pan, season with salt, pepper and thyme, add a small glug of white wine to refresh it and toss it into the oven to roast slightly. You want the mushrooms to get browned and caramelized and with a slight crunch to them. Serve up the soup in bowls and toss on top of each a scatter of the mushrooms. Add some bread, and there you go!! Perfect comforting and tasty soup to start a dinner with!



Comments

  1. Não uso cogumelos mais vezes porque o pessoal cá de casa não gosta, sou a única que gosta! E também temos dificuldade em arranjá-los frescos por aqui! Beijinhos

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    1. Também dá para fazer com cogumelos enlatados ou cogumelos secos - esses então dão uma profundidade de sabor que é de loucos!!

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    2. Soup power! Adoro cogumelos, até como Portobello em vez de bife uma vez ou outra! Hei-de experimentar esta tua receita! O que me fez lembrar um livro que eu tenho com o menú da fatídica noite do Titanic e suas receitas e que ainda não experimentei fazer! Abriste-me o apetite.

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    3. Já somos duas, cogumelos é do melhor e é um ingrediente SUPER versátil, não me canso eheheh. Abri o apetite a mim mesma, pá, rai's me parta que tenho foooome!!

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  2. Ando para fazer sopa de cogumelos há algum tempo, vou experimentar a tua receita!

    A tua descrição é perfeita, como sempre, eu cá adoro sopa... *so many good feelings*

    beijinhos, Nádia
    My Fashion Insider

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    1. SIm, sopa pode ser algo tão reconfortante, tão quente, tão invigorante... dependendo do tipo de sopa que se coma, a sensação que nos traz será semrpe evocativa, acho eu.

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  3. Cogumelos is my beachhhhh. fogo tem TÃO bom aspecto. Nunca fiz nenhuma de cogumelos, só as instantaneas da Knorr, shame on me. Nem sei qual tem melhor aspecto, se esta, se a de couve-flor! Mas sopa é mesmo isso... slow living, conforto <3 E esta parece tão fácil de fazer!

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    1. a de couve flor é melhor, pelo menos em termos de sabor e textura - na minha opinião!!! - mas a de cogumelos é daquelas coisas que aquece a alma!

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  4. Ai ca bom :( a minha sopa preferida é caldo verde mas acho que esta vai superar xD
    Estou numa fase horrível que não gosto de nada que cozinho, as coisas só me sabem bem se forem os outros a cozinhar mas acho que consigo fazer isto e saber-me bem :)

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    1. eu então ando tão avessa ás coisas que os outros cozinham... fora o meu marido, esse podia cozinhar certas coisas todos os dias que eu enfardava e depois rolava pelas ruas feliz e consolada da barriga ahahahah

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  5. nunca fiz sopa de cogumelos mas esta tua, tão apetitosa, já não me escapa!

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