I know the weather is starting to change and we are almost out of soup season. I found this recipe and I fell right into it. As far as I am concerned, it is always soup season! We are going to start with this mushroom soup and move on to some chilled ones.
This soup has a fairly long list of ingredients but don’t be intimidated! It is mostly stuff to make the broth. As we have talked about before the broth is the backbone of the soup. I did a few things differently due to the ingredients I had on hand. I will talk about those at the end. Get your flippers on, we are going to dive in!
1/2 stick butter
1 large onion chopped or diced-it doesn’t need to be pretty
1 pound of button/white mushrooms- get the pre-chopped ones to save time
2 cups of broth- I used beef but veggie or chicken would be great
1 Tablespoon either sweet or hot Hungarian paprika and of soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 cup of milk
3 Tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup sour cream
A bunch of parsley, chopped. Salt, pepper, a couple splashes of lemon juice and fresh dill and lemon wedges.
This is a one pot meal so get out the soup pot and let’s get started. Over medium heat, melt the butter and soften up the onion. Add the mushrooms and let them get soft but not browned. Stir in the broth, soy sauce, dried dill and paprika. Reduce the heat to a simmer and pop a lid on and let it mingle for 15 or 20 minutes.
Mix the milk and flour together and whisk it into the broth. Get the lid back on and reduce the heat to low and give it another 15 or 20 minutes. Stir it occasionally.
After that last 15 minute simmer we are going to stir in the rest of the things. The sour cream, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover it back up and give it a few minutes for the sour cream to get all hot and friendly.
Give her a taste and make any adjustments before you plate. We will toss a bit of fresh dill on and stick a couple of lemon wedges in.
This could be served cool if you wanted. Instead of stirring the sour cream in while it still on the stove, let the soup cool a bit first. It will need to be warm enough for the sour cream to mix smoothly in, you don’t want chunks. Sauteed mushrooms could be a topping as well. They would go smashingly with either the hot or cool soup.
I only had half and half on hand so I used that instead of the milk. If anything it helped the soup be a bit creamier. I chose to go with the warm version and I topped it with sauteed mushrooms. I did them in the Julia way, hot skillet with a bit of water, salt and pepper. I wanted them to be crispier to stand against the creamy soup. I also toasted some bread and slathered it with garlic butter. I thought briefly about a salad but decided against one.
Soup and bread makes my soul happy. I don’t care what the weather is or what season it is. On the island, I learned something interesting. On the hottest day, one should eat a steaming bowl of noodles. Or a plate of spicy curry. Something about raising your internal temperature makes it feel not as hot on the outside.
Enjoy your kitchen! Forget the weather. Make food that speaks to your soul.
Ali's Kitchen 