Creamy Mushroom Soup

I do a lot of soup making but realised today, following a conversation at work that I had never made mushroom soup, not sure why as I love mushrooms!! I have fond memories of a company where I used to work at, a lady I shared my desk with called Shirley always bought mushroom soup in, in her thermos and would very kindly share it with me, I remember it being thick and full of mushrooms, sadly I didn't really cook back then and never thought to ask for the recipe, now I don't need to, and dare I say its better? ;-) I was actually going to post tonight a new oven baked risotto recipe we ate for dinner but this was more tastier!

And so today, following the work conversation, I agreed to make mushroom soup and take my colleague a bowl in tomorrow for his lunch, now I have made it, its rather gorgeous and I'm not altogether sure I want to share it!! However, I know thats greedy and me being the nice person I am, just had to share it with you all! It also helps that yesterday we had a roast chicken and I lovingly made the stock afterwards with the carcass ;-)

I'm so happy with the results, I vow never to buy in mushroom soup again as this is like mushroom heaven, creamy and earthy, just the way mushroom soup should be I think!

Makes a good four servings, I'm intending to freeze some so will let you know if succesful, though I don't see why it won't! :-)

Ingredients:

750g mushrooms (I used value punnet, £1.34!) cut into small chunks
750 ml chicken stock, hot (I used home made though you could use a light veggie one)
300ml milk
1 large white onion, finely diced
S&P to taste
30g butter
30g plain flour + 2 tbsp
2 tbsp olive oil

Note: You will need two big pans for this, I used my Le creuset casserole for the mushrooms


1) Firstly heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the flour and whisk together for 1-2 minutes until mixed and golden, now add the milk and keep whisking so it does not stick



2) In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan/ casserole, add the onion and gently fry but be careful not to colour, I used a medium low heat setting and placed the lid on


3) Return to the whisking pan, it should be a little thicker, add the warmed stock and whisk together over a medium-ish heat for about 5 minutes, now add the remaining flour (*I may re-write this part at a later date, I added as was not thick enough!) and whisk together, keeping a close eye on it, move to next stage


4) Add the mushrooms to the onions, mix well and re-cover, return to the sauce mix and keep it bubbling on an even heat for about 10 minutes, until about the thickness of a light custard

5) Tip the mushroom mix, juices included to the sauce, and simmer for a further 10 minutes, ensuring it does not stick on the bottom, season to taste



6) Remove from heat and blend lightly with a stick blender, I only blitzed half of the soup as I like a thick texture but also mushroom chunks in!

7) Pour into a bowl and tuck in with glee!