It Starts with Stock II

Mushroom Soup

So here I was with this Moroccan-Spiced stock, quite possibly the finest I have made [it likely won't come together quite like this ever again]. And mushrooms always being in season, lucky for me because I had a hankering for Mushroom Soup.

See that monogrammed 'C' on the soup spoon? A long time ago, when life was a lot simpler and I was about 8 or 9, I saved–I don't remember how many–Campbell's soup labels and sent them away for 6 spoons. They actually had them engraved with any initial you wanted and, well our last name being Crocker, I just naturally went with the 'C'.

Now I have the spoons and I don't think I have told anyone that story in a very long time.

Mushroom Soup is always different [let's be honest: every recipe is different for me, because I find it just so darned hard to follow a recipe- even/especially my own.] Anyway, today being EARTH DAY and all, I thought an earthy, brothy, rich brown soup would help celebrate the day in down-to-earth style.

Here's my LOOK and COOK* Recipe

In a large saucepan or soup  pot of some heft, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. [Don't put the oil away, you may need a drop or two later.]

Meanwhile, in a food processor, chop 3 cloves of garlic and  a piece of candied ginger. 

[The garlic is essential, the ginger is not, but ginger and garlic are part of my herb triology, thyme being the holy ghost here because I didn't happen to have any fresh or dried.]

Leave the garlic and ginger in the bowl of the food processor and add a red onion, peeled and quartered. [just because I didn't have any yellow cooking onions, or I would have used one of those and kept the red onion for a salad.]

Chop and add to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes over medium-low heat.

Chop rutabaga. Wait! Rutabaga? Trust me. No one will know and you will have boosted the nutrient quotient way up. Here I cut the rutabaga in half, then cut 4 3/4-inch slices, peeled and coarsely chopped them before chopping in the food processor. 

Add to the pan. Cook and stir constantly for 5 minutes. [Here you may have to add some more olive oil to keep the onions and the rutabaga from sticking to the pan. And here is where a heavy-bottomed pan and low heat are your 2 best friends.]

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons butter to the pan. [this is optional but I do like the nutty flavor of mushrooms sautéed in pure butter.]

Add chopped mushrooms [about 2 lb mushrooms/6 cups chopped], cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes

Add chicken stock [8 cups here- I got carried away with taking the photograph and might have only used 6 cups of this most precious nectar, ah well, so the soup was slightly thinner than I might have liked, but TheBigGuy never put his spoon down]. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or longer.

Add salt to taste.

Serves 6 or 8

**Look and Cook Recipe- a sneaky/ recipe format where I really need to re-test for exact amounts, but just don't have the time or inclination. It's hard to develop, test, style and shoot recipes solo [winge-winge]. Don't get me wrong, I can do it, it's just that the weakest link gets dropped. And for me the tedious testing link is the first to go.