Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup For Two

Homemade soup. Once you make your first batch, you'll never go back to cans. It's healthier, it tastes better, it freezes well, and it's usually very easy.

I love soup but my husband isn't the biggest fan. So I make batches, freeze half and bring half to work for my lunches for a week. It works. But sometimes one doesn't want to eat lentil soup four days in a row.

This recipe is not only delicious - it is enough for two. Or for two or three lunches if combined with a sandwich or salad. Of course you can scale it to make for more but this is perfect for me.

Magically delicious Creamy Mushroom Soup.

As always - do all of your chopping, measuring and ingredient gathering first. Set it all up so once you start to cook, you don't have to stop to do something. Or worse: don't burn the mushrooms because you're busy chopping thyme.

Cut the mushrooms in a

smallish dice.

Ingredients:

2 cups, give or take, fresh mushrooms, cleaned and smallish dice (I use portabella and shiitake but have used a mix as well.) Think about how this will feel in your mouth when eating the soup - chop too fine and it will be weird, almost gritty.

1/2 cup fresh mushrooms sliced thin (you will sauté and add back into the soup so keep separate)

1 TBS Olive oil (EVOO)

3-4 cloves garlic put through garlic press (when prepping I put a splash of EVOO in with the garlic)

1 TBS butter

1/2 TBS chopped fresh thyme (or 1/4 dried. Fresh really works best here)

1 bay leave

2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup chicken or veggie stock

1 TBS flour dissolved in 1 TBS water

1/2 cup heavy cream plus water to make about 2/3 cup. (You can use light cream here if you choose.)

1/2 cup milk (I use 2%)

1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (don't use powdered nutmeg...get the fresh nutmeg and grind it with a microplane)

splash of sherry (optional)

salt/pepper to taste

Fenway says: Soup is good for you!

1. Heat EVOO in sauce pan, add butter and sauté garlic on medium heat. 

2. Add diced mushrooms, thyme, bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes - until the moisture from mushrooms disappears and you start to see browning on the bottom of the pan.

3. Add  broth, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir until it boils.

4. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté the sliced mushrooms in some butter/oil and salt until tender - or browned if you like a little texture.

5. Add diluted flour mixture and stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

6. Add milk and heavy cream mix and bring to a simmer.

7. Turn heat off and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add a splash of sherry if you have it. Add sliced mushrooms back to soup.

8. Taste, adjust seasoning etc. as needed. 

You can thicken by adding more flour mixture or not watering down the heavy cream but I like this a little on the brothy side.