Cream of mushroom soup recipe

Delicate consistency, unique aroma, exquisite taste, French elegance … this is all his Majesty Cream of mushroom soup with béchamel sauce

Once upon a time, the brilliant George Bernard Shaw said the undeniable truth that the most fun things in life are either immoral, illegal or they make you fat. There is no more truthful truth! I don’t know about other areas, but in cooking, this is exactly the case… mostly… Many people cannot eat chocolate salami without remorse; some, dip a fork into juicy spaghetti with polpette sauce and at the same time think about what time they will have to go to the gym…

In general, from a gastronomic point of view, there is a special group of people called “two in one” – these are people who, on the one hand, try to take care of their perfect slim body and on the other hand, they just cannot resist delicious food.

In this case, there are two options for solving the problem:

1. Go on a Chinese diet.

Have you ever heard of such a diet? It’s very simple – you need to eat broth or some kind of liquid soup (cream of mushroom soup, for example) with Chinese chopsticks! (haha… I’m kidding, of course).

• Make the phrase “we live only once” your life credo and allow yourself everything.

I chose this second option for myself a long time ago. And I always say that denying yourself the pleasure of eating something delicious is a criminal offense! No, I in no way urge you to:

• eat a double burger and a mountain of fried potatoes for breakfast
• eat a whole pot of meatballs and a sandwich with ten slices of salami for lunch
• and after all that… order pizza for dinner (if by a miracle there are three millimeters of free space left in the stomach)

No, eating with pleasure does not mean mindlessly destroying your own health. Eat everything, but in moderation. By the way, many dishes can be prepared more healthily, while not losing the gastronomic pleasure at all. For example, instead of fried meatballs, prepare meatballs in the oven, or make Italian polpette; baked potatoes are not at all inferior to fried ones; pizzas are also not all the same (sourdough pizza dough or the recipes with a minimum amount of yeast will pleasantly surprise you, and your metabolism will be very grateful to you).

Cream od mushrooms soup is a real gastronomic pleasure and a clear conscience

In the unequal struggle between delicious and healthy food, the main thing is to arm yourself with the right ingredients and the victory will be fairly distributed for both sides. Remember: healthy food can be delicious!

By the way, I have great news for you! To get the right ingredients, you don’t need to travel 1000 miles by train, plane, ferry, car and ride a bike for the last 2 miles to get to the top of the mountain. Fortunately, it’s enough to go to the nearest supermarket. Look for a department with vegetables… found it? Wonderful! Now go to the shelf with mushrooms and take a pack of white button mushrooms. One of the right ingredients is already in your hands! You can go home and prepare the cream of mushroom soup.

White button mushrooms are:

• a variety of vitamins and minerals (especially vitamin B)
• a high content of arginine and lysine (these amino acids have a very beneficial effect on our mental abilities. If you want to clearly remember all the details of the 483947th episode of “Game of Thrones” even after 70 years, eat white button mushrooms before it’s too late!
• a wonderful source of protein (eat white button mushrooms, exercise and you won’t be afraid of excess weight)
• iron for your body (trichologists claim that one of the causes of hair loss is anemia caused by iron deficiency. Of course, look at things realistically – even if you make cream of mushroom soup and eat the entire pan at once, you will not transform from a bald Homer Simpson to Rapunzel with a 10-meter braid immediately… but your hair will be very grateful to you)
• almost complete absence of fat … those 0.01oz (0.3g) of fat per 100 g of mushrooms are hidden somewhere far away in the corner and are almost invisible
• 4oz (100g) of white button mushrooms contain only 22 calories!

Therefore, don’t hesitate – make cream of mushroom soup and eat with a clear conscience!

My favorite cream of mushroom soup recipe

Mushrooms are very lucky, nature has given them a unique taste and aroma. Any mushroom dish is already a small gastronomic feast.

But if you want something very tender, hearty (and light at the same time), elegant and with a slight hint of French charm, then by all means prepare this cream of mushroom soup.

For even more tenderness, I use not only heavy cream, but also Bechamel sauce as the basis for this soup. Thanks to this simple trick, it turns out “tenderness squared”.

This soup is very easy and quick to prepare. Fortunately, back in 1922, Stephen Poplavsky, an American of Polish origin, invented a blender! He used it to mix drinks, but today this miracle device is simply indispensable to make cream soups of any kind: just put all the ingredients together, and then the powerful blades will do all the work for you.

This cream of mushroom soup is delicious on its own, but if you want “perfect perfection”, then make some homemade croutons. They, like nothing else, make the perfect accompaniment to any creamy soup.

Ingredients

White button mushrooms (sliced)

Potatoes (diced)

An onion (finely diced)

A carrot (grated on a coarse grater)

Salt, paprika powder and black pepper to taste

Milk or heavy cream

A clove of garlic

For the Bechamel sauce:

Milk, butter, flour, a pinch of salt and a pinch of ground nutmeg

Cream of mushroom soup recipe

Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Add 3 cups (750ml) water and cook until potatoes are tender

While the potatoes are boiling, saute the grated carrots and diced onions in oil (until golden)

Add the chopped or sliced white button mushrooms and  ½  cup of water. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer under the lid until the mushrooms are cooked

Prepare Bechamel sauce (I cook my favorite “lazy” version – pour milk into a saucepan, add butter, flour, salt and nutmeg). Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat (stirring constantly), and leave to boil for 1-2 minutes (no need to cook until too thick)

Transfer the cooked mushrooms, onions and carrots to a blender bowl. Add boiled potatoes too (don’t throw the water in which they were boiled, we will add it to the soup later). Grind everything into a homogeneous puree. Transfer the puree into a saucepan, add the Bechamel sauce, the water in which the potatoes were boiled and ¼ cup + 3Tbsp (100 ml) of milk or heavy cream. Season with salt, paprika powder and black pepper to taste, add garlic passed through a press, bring to a boil and leave to simmer for 5 minutes

Most of all I love this soup with croutons, but even without them it’s divine!

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