Can you imagine Martha serving an ordinary soup at a Thanksgiving dinner? Exactly. But that’s not the only reason why I bookmarked this mushroom soup as soon as I saw its photo gleaming on page 146 of Martha Stewart Living’s November 2006 issue, where she entertained 20+ guests at her farm in Bedford, New York.
Did it ever happen to you, too? A recipe screaming “Cook me. Ladle me into a pretty bowl. Then paint me with chervil cream. Then sprinkle tiny croutons on top of me and dig in”. It happens to me a lot. Should I worry?
Dried porcini mushrooms were nowhere to be found in Istanbul, so I tweaked the original recipe a bit and used three different varieties of fresh mushrooms: White, Cremini and Shiitake. With the vegetable broth already stashed in my freezer, preparation took me only 15 minutes.
I can list of a million soups that are perfect for winter months, but this is the one that I just couldn’t stop thinking about – for two and a half years! Hope you like it, too.
By the way, if you’d like to watch Martha & Sharon Stone cooking this soup live on TV, here’s the link.
MUSHROOM SOUP RECIPE
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
- 1 pound white mushrooms
- 3/4 pounds Cremini mushrooms
- 1/2 pound Shiitake mushrooms
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1+ 1/4 cups whole milk
- 25 (5 ounces) shallots, chopped finely
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 5 cups vegetable broth (or water)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Chervil Cream:
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh chervil
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Coarse salt
Homemade Croutons:
- 4 slices of organic rye bread
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Method
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add potatoes; cook for 10 more minutes.
- Add mushrooms (no need to chop since everything will be blended, just halve the large ones to fit the pot), vegetable broth and cook covered for 10 minutes.
- Stir in cream and milk; cook for another 10 minutes.
- Working in 3 batches, puree soup in a food processor, making sure there are no remaining mushroom pieces; return to pan.
- Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
- Add soy sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered, up to 3 days.
- To serve, divide among bowls; spoon about 2 teaspoons chervil cream into each center, and sprinkle with croutons.
- To prepare the chervil cream, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add chervil, cook for 30 seconds and transfer to an ice bath with a slotted spoon. Process chervil with 1/4 cup cold water in a food processor until very finely chopped. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve and discard liquid. Whip cream in a bowl until thick but still pourable; stir in chervil and season with salt.
- To prepare homemade croutons, preheat your oven to 350F. Cut bread into small cubes, toss with melted butter and toast in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet covered with aluminum foil for 9-10 minutes.
Mushroom soup is the only kind of soup I have ever driven over 25 miles to get! This sounds like comfort in a bowl!
Your pictures are so tempting Fernando…need to go shop now…
Ghille – Hope you like it!
MsGourmet – Ha ha! I know! I am the king of procrastination.
LOL- i can’t believe it took you 2.5 years to make this!
Looks delicious!! Fabulous photos!
Oh my goodness, looks amazing!
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
Hi Cenk!
Mushrooms and cream impossible to not turn out fabulous and full of flavor 🙂
I bought frozen Porcini from Metro a week ago. I guess that would help as well.
Please let me know if you need Porcini in big amounts. I have couple of contacts. I believe we can find it.
Emre – Thanks for the suggestion. I need to make a trip to Metro soon, so I’ll check them out. I really wouldn’t know what to do with Porcini if I were to buy them in bulk tough.. Thanks again.
Looks delicious! And for another tidbit of unsolicited advice… I am not *positive* but I believe I saw the porcini mushrooms at Kolaylar in Arnavutkoy (though they were possibly shittake). In any case, the soup looks delicious. I LOVE those cremini mushrooms.
Speaking of hard-to-find items, I was also really excited this week that our local market, Nezih, here in Ciftehavuzlar started making their own cheddar, which is quite delicious. I hadn’t seen it around town beforehand (aside from the Pinar slices). Though, I also hadn’t been to check in the gourmet shops… anyway, maybe someone is interested in some good real cheddar :o)
Jen – Kolaylar is one of my favorite spots! Their produce is one of the best (very expensive tough). Thanks a lot for the tip on cheddar. Nezih is very close to my parents’ place so I’ll make sure to stop by next time.
yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy. my favourite soup!
And I am already drooling! Look at those croutons! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I don’t believe I have ever made a mushroom soup without the addition of wine, however this one looks tempting! Beautiful presentation as always!
I just wanted to add since I happened to run into them randomly today… I was with a friend in Bebek today and went into the Santral Sarkuteri across from Starbucks and they had dried porcini, as well as dried morel mushrooms, whatever those are.
Kolaylar is way too expensive 🙂 but sometimes they are good for a treat.
Great recipe and so full of flavours. I would simply love some of this for lunch with a piece of crusty bread.
It’s a kind of my favorite soup, But I never cook it myself before!
Great to learn from you, I will try!
How much would it affect the taste if I made this soup using white mushrooms only? I am no gourmet and just would like to make descent food. Thanks. Ayse.
Ayse – I don’t think it’ll be the same, but you’ll still get to eat a great mushroom soup. Hope you like it.
paint a mushroom with chervil cream. ooooooooooooh what a brilliant sentence!
No, you should not worry and bask in the knowledge that there are many of us out there 🙂
I did a *roasted* mushroom soup recently that was amazing. This one looks good too. I like the idea of the chervil cream.
Great look mushrooms. And of course, a nice alternative to the usual mushroom soup they *all* serve! 🙂
Well I tried making it with regular mushrooms- and even sans the chervil cream and croutons- and as you said, it was still very good. cheers!
mmm the only thing that makes me look fwd to winter is soup! especially ones like this!!! looks lovely, and i adore that spoon btw!!
Mushrooms and herbs are a fabulous match, in general. Last week I had a great mushroom soup with mint oil at a place in Palo Alto. What a revelation! Try it some time.
This great recipe calls for heavy cream and whole milk – why milk, surely it is better with cream and plain water?
Milk is sweetish. Also what function is there for the potatoes, will not soup be thick as it is?
manon – It is just a matter of taste. You can use water instead of milk. As for potatoes, yes, the soup will not be as thick.
This looks fantastic! What a lovely idea for mushroom soup 🙂