Freakin' Amazing Cream of Mushroom Soup

Freakin' Amazing Cream of Mushroom Soup

Katie Lou Boland

1 8 oz pkg of button mushrooms
1 8 oz pkg of portabella mushrooms
1 qt half n half
1/2 c flour
1/2 c butter
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Beef Bouillon Cubes
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
A dollop of Daisy (sour cream)

Chop your mushrooms to varying thicknesses. To get a really good soup, you should have some good chunks, but you want a lot of really small stuff too so you get that great mushroom flavor throughout the soup. Saute them in some olive oil until they release their juice.

The next (and most important step is to make a good roux (roo).  Get out a large stock pot.  This will make sense later. To make a good roux you need one stick of butter melted into whichever pot that you want to make your soup in.

When the butter has melted, dump the flour in and whisk it all together. This you must cook at low to medium low heat stirring occasionally with the whisk for 15-25 minutes. It should be a little darker than when you started and give off a nutty smell.

In a separate stock pot on medium heat mix your dairy and let it warm up.  Stir occasionally and watch to make sure it doesn't burn. Add the first bouillon cube. Let that break up in there and mix it in good.  Then you can add in the mushroom when they are done cooking up.

It's easy for this stuff to burn at this point, so keep a good eye on it.  Once it's up to temp, add in a couple of pinches of kosher salt and 1 tsp black pepper.  Remember that pepper really brings out the flavor in cream based sauces so it's good to put in more than you think you would need.

This is important: Pour the liquid into the pot with the roux. Not the other way around. The consistency is much better this way.

Then add in the garlic. It's important not to add the garlic any earlier than this because then it will eclipse the flavor of the mushrooms. Add in another bouillon cube. Stir it all together.  Add another dollop of daisy, and then let it all heat back up to temperature.  Stir it often, I had it cooking like this for about 20 minutes, letting all those flavors marry nicely.  Check your spices, you may want to add more salt, pepper, and bouillon to taste.