Recipe: QT's Creamy Mushroom Madness Soup (Or "There's Fungus Among Us!")

Okay, I absolutely MUST "write this down" before I forget!  Because - DAYUM - I *will* be making this again!

We've got another Farm-Share Delivery coming tomorrow and Hooooly Cow!  I've got some veggies to get rid of! ("Vanquish the Veggies!!!")

One of the leftovers, from my last delivery, was a smallish box of unidentified mushrooms.  I think they are *mostly* Enoki mushrooms, but there were some "fatties" there, too.  No clue what they are! (Note to self:  Keep the friggin' delivery list - otherwise, you won't know what the hell you just cooked!). (Ooh - I think I just figured it out!  I think they're "King Trumpet" mushrooms).

Shroom-O-Rama!

I also had some dried Shiitake Mushrooms in the cupboard...

Annnnnd...  A couple-three different containers of shrooms in the fridge:  Plain ol' white button shrooms, a bag of sliced white shrooms (that weren't looking so "white" anymore) and a bag of Baby Bella sliced shrooms (brown - but they're s'posed to be brown)...  Normally, I don't like cooking with the Baby Bellas (flavor is a little too strong for my liking).  And I've had the dried Shiitakes for-EVAR - just never felt-much like reconstituting them and doing an asian stir-fry (too messy!).

So I ended up consulting Google again (Gee, what a surprise!), and I pinned a couple-three mushroomy-soup kinda recipes, thinkin' I could smoosh 'em together at some point (BEFORE the next boxload of veggies arrived!!!)

Credit where Credit is Due - here are the "inspirations" for my recipe du jour:

Cream of Mushroom Soup - Good, basic recipe - that SURELY puts Campbell's to shame.  But it lacks garlic and I think I want to add Celery to mine...

Celery and Mushroom Soup - This one has celery and cream, and some seasonings that don't normally reside in my spice cupboard!  But it does sound deelish!

Mushroom Celery and Garlic Soup - this one's "Diabetic" and "Healthy" and lacks cream, but it HAS GARLIC!!!...  So definitely a decent foundation!

And then I stole the whole "Cream-Cheese" addition from *this* recipe - 'cuz it was delightfully tasty! (And I credited the OP in that post!).

Now this soup was *somewhat* labor-intensive (had to re-constitute the dried/dried-ish mushrooms, and do a lot of chopping), but overall it really wasn't too bad and only took appx 30 minutes to prepare...

Okay-kay-kay-kay...!  Post the damned recipe already!!!

Home-made Cream of Mushroom Soup - Yummmmmm!!!!

QT's Creamy Mushroom Madness Soup
Yields 6-8 generous servings

Ingredients:

• 4 cups assorted mushrooms, coarsely chopped (I used dried shiitake, enoki, white/button, and baby bellas) (and that 4 cup measure is *after* chopping - just FYI)
• 1 medium-to-largish onion, finely chopped (I think it ended up being close to 2 cups)
• 2 fat cloves of fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 TBS melted butter
• 1-2 TBS olive oil
• salt
• 1/4-1/3 cup cooking sherry (or white cooking wine - whatever you've got)
• 2-3 tsp worchestershire sauce
• Seasoning Salt, to taste (I used Lawry's Seasoning Salt - which seems to be readily available at any grocery store)
• 4 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4-1/2 tsp dried tarragon

Instructions:

1. Reconstitute your shiitake mushrooms (if you're using dried) by filling a bowl with hot water and dumping appx 10-12 dried shiitake mushrooms in it, 'til they moisten/soften up a bit (takes appx 20 minutes) (Oh, and remove the stems from the Shiitakes, after they're reconstituted, 'cuz, evidently, the stems are no good).  My Enokis were also somewhat-dried-out (having been in the fridge for 2 weeks), so I tossed them into the bowl, as well.  You can "go about your business" while this is happening (I was working at the time!) - or you can start chopping your other veggies.
2. Chop up all of your mushrooms into coarse chunks (appx 1/4"-1/2" cubes, or thereabouts).  Set the shrooms aside...
3. Finely chop your onion, garlic and celery (they are going to end up pureed so, as I've stated in earlier recipes, "The finer the better!")
4. Heat-up 2 TBS butter and 1-2 TBS olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Once melted, add the onions+garlic+celery and cook on medium-low 'til translucent.  Add salt and let 'em sweat....
5. Add the mushrooms and saute on medium-low 'til the mushrooms start to brown (but the onions should NOT brown)...  All-told, maybe 10 minutes...
6. Add the worchestershire and stir.  That should *start* deglazing/de-greasing the pan...
7. Add the cooking wine and stir some more.  That should finish the de-greasing!
8. Stir-in some Seasoning, to taste (you want the mushrooms to "take-up" as much flavor as they can - at this point!). 
9. Add the broth, bring to a light boil, then reduce heat to low and let it simmer, covered, for appx 15 minutes, til everything starts to soften...
10. Add 4 oz (half a brick) of softened cream cheese and let it melt in...
11. Hit the whole mess with an immersion blender (or, let it cool, and put it in a blender - in batches).  Puree til "mostly smooth" (hopefully, the mushrooms will retain their original shape/texture).
12. Heat it up, again, on medium heat and add cream (or half-and-half).  You don't want to bring it to a boil, but you DO want it to heat-up.
13. Add thyme/tarragon, to taste...
14. At this point, you might want to add some kind of thickener (be it corn-starch, or a butter+flour roux).  Personally, I thought it was fine "As-Is"

Serve hot, with a sprig of parsley...

This soup was AMAZINGLY delicious!  Hell, I impressed myself!  It's hearty enough for a cold winter night, but also light enough for a springtime lunch (which is how I enjoyed mine, today!).  I've frozen a couple of servings and might try using it as a "base" for something else, at some point...

It really is a very versatile and AMAZINGLY tasty soup!!!

Post-Script:  I actually found a website where you can plug in the ingredients and # of servings and it'll give you nutritional information.  Website: Calorie Count.*

And here is the info for QT's Mushroom Madness Soup (after I subtracted 1 TBS butter and switched Cream to Half and Half!) (Yeah, I'm a cheater!).

I need to tweak-around with this tool, a bit (and maybe attempt some manual calculations - just to confirm). But I think it's pretty cool!

*P.S. This calculator seems to work just fine for "regular" recipes - but for "sweets" like desserts made with Splenda, the calculations are all jacked-up (their "baseline" calorie/carb counts are based on "individual packets" of Splenda and appear to be severely "rounded-up!").  Be warned! :-)