The Cookbook Store: Chunky Mushroom Soup

Chunky Mushroom Soup

from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook
Elizabeth Baird
From the Canadian Living Test Kitchen
This tome will have everthing you need and didn't know you needed! Information on equipment, choosing and storing ingredients, glossary of culinary terms, nutritional analysis for each recipe, advice on using bread machines, food processors, slow cookiers and let's not forget the 350 recipes! $49.95.

Exotic mushrooms provide a stylish flourish to a very satisfying soup. Use crimini, shitake or oyster mushrooms or a combination. Shiitake mushrooms have tough stems, which should be removed before mushrooms are cooked.

5 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1.25 L
1 potato, peeled and cubed 1
2 tbsp vegetable oil 25 mL
2 onions, finely chopped 2
2 cloves garlic, minced 2
2 carrots, finely chopped 2
4 cups sliced trimmed fresh exotic mushrooms 1 L
(about 12 oz/375 g)
3 cups sliced button mushrooms 750 mL
(about 8 oz/250 g)
1/2 tsp dried thyme 2 mL
1/4 tsp each paprika and pepper 1 mL
2 tbsp sherry 25 mL

1. In a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) of the vegetable stock to a boil. Add potato; cover and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until tender. Pour into blender or food processor; purée until smooth. Set aside.

2. In a large heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; cook onions, garlic and carrots, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until softened.

3. Stir in exotic and button mushrooms, thyme, paprika and pepper; cook, stirring often, for about 20 minutes or until mushrooms start to turn golden and no liquid remains.

4. Stir in potato purée and remaining stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in sherry; simmer for 2 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving, about

cal 00
pro 00 g
total fat 00 g
sat. fat 00 g
carb 00 g
fibre 00 g
chol 00 mg
sodium 00 mg

Percentage RDI:

calcium 00%
iron 00%
folate 00%
vit. A 00%
vit. C 00%

Fresh Cultivated Mushrooms

For supermarket shoppers, there are new choices when buying mushrooms. Best known, cultivated on a large scale and therefore the least expensive is the white mushroom: 1/2 to 3 inches (1 to 8 cm) in diameter, sometimes called the button mushroom, but officially known as the Agaricus bisporus. When mushrooms are called for in an ingredient list, this is the mushroom to choose. Agaricus mushrooms have a mild taste, but there earthiness still delivers a soupçon of elegance to salads, soups, stews, vegetable side dishes, pastas and dressings.

In recent years, the common white mushroom has been joined in produce bins by three other cultivated mushrooms generally referred to as "exotic" mushrooms. The first, called crimini, is simply the brown counterpart of the common white mushroom. Whether the little crimini really packs more flavour is a moot point. When grown to xx inches (xx cm), the crimini becomes a portobello mushroom. The portobello, with a meatier, more pronounced woodsy flavour, is a natural for grilling and stuffing -- for example, with roasted peppers, chees or an egg -- and is the delight of vegetarians who sandwich a grilled portobello into a bun and call it a burger. Portobellos cook up dark and when sliced or chopped suit robust dishes in which a light colour is not important. Smaller versions are called portobellini; enjoy them as you would a smaller mushroom.

Oyster mushrooms come in various shades, but they are usually dove grey, which with their flat shape and artistically fringed end does make them look like oysters. Mild in flavour, oyster mushrooms can be used in cooked dishes as you would common white mushrooms, and they are especially suited to Asian dishes and grilling.

Shiitake mushrooms are the most expensive, the best keepers and the most assertive of the exotics. Stems are tough; remove and use to flavour stocks.