Roasted Mushroom Soup

Whenever my house phone rings early in the morning (no one has the number but close family and friends), I immediately think something is wrong. So when I heard it ringing this morning, that is what I thought. But it was good news! It was one of Hilary's friends, Taylor, calling to tell us to look outside at the SNOW!!!!

It hasn't snowed in south Louisiana in years! I remember there being enough snow one year in the early 90's that we were able to make a snowman; the ditches froze and we could "ice skate" on them (remember that Mary??); and we turned on the sprinkler to make icicles on our bushes.

Schools are closed so I'm assuming that I won't have to teach tonight...what am I going to do with myself? I guess catch up on my to-do list. And blogging about my newest soup recipe is on that list.

I LOVE mushrooms, so when I received a recipe in my email for Roasted Mushroom Soup, I knew I had to make it that day. There were a few steps in the recipe that I didn't like, so I googled for another version. I ended up using a combination of the two. I made a few ingredient modifications too.

The soup is thick and creamy, but only because of pureed mushrooms and not because there is a lot of cream. The recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of heavy cream, but it is completely optional. I almost left it out, because the soup was already so creamy. I'm going to include the nutrition info for both versions...with and without the cream...and you can decide - nutritionally it doesn't make much of a difference.

Roasted Mushroom Soup
adapted from Countryliving.com and Epicurious.com

makes 8 1-cup servings

2 pounds cremini mushrooms, sliced into ½-inch pieces
about 1 pound shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps cut into ½-inch pieces
2 large garlic clove, unpeeled
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper, divided

1 tablespoon butter
2 shallots, finely sliced (about ½ cup)
4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth, divided
¾ cup white wine (I used chardonnay, but any white would work)
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped (or ¾ teaspoon dried)

2 tablespoons heavy cream (or half & half, both optional)
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Divide mushrooms and whole garlic cloves between 2 large baking sheets (with rims). To each baking sheet add 1 tablespoon oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Toss to coat and spread mushrooms and garlic into a single layer. Roast for 30 minutes, switching pans from top and bottom shelves half way through.

As soon as you remove the mushrooms from the oven, add about a ¼ cup of broth (or more) to each pan and scrape up any brown bits...this is called deglazing. Set aside to cool slightly.

Once cooled, remove garlic cloves from pan then peel and mince (or press). Puree half of mushrooms with enough broth so that the blender can blend (about 2 cups for me). Set mushroom puree aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallot and garlic and sauté until shallot is tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine and simmer until almost all of liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Add flour; stir 2 minutes (reduce heat if browning too quickly). Add remaining broth and thyme; stir working out any flour/onion clumps. Stir in remaining cooked mushroom pieces/juices and mushroom puree. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add cream (if using) and lemon juice; taste and reseason with salt and pepper if needed.

Per serving (with cream) - 148 calories, 6 g fat (2 g saturated), 13 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein (exchanges: 1 fat, 2 vegetable, 1 protein)

Per serving (without cream) - 135 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 13 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein (exchanges: 1 fat, 2 vegetable, 1 protein)

Notes - The soup can be made ahead of time - cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate, bring to simmer before serving, thinning with additional broth or water if necessary; you could use red onion instead of shallot; my soup was really thick, so I added water to each individual serving instead of thinning out the whole batch; you could use a mixture of creminis (baby portobellos) and button mushrooms instead...shiitakes are expensive and can be hard to find!


Lagniappe...

Having a low-calorie soup (like this one) as a first course may be able to help you lose weight...read about it here!