This mushroom soup tells the story of my journey
from being mushroom averse to a mushroom lover.
Rich and creamy, it's earthy, elegant,
and a love song to fellow mushroom lovers.
I'm Erin from wellplated.com, come hang with me
while we make this luscious cream of mushroom soup.
(upbeat music)
I called it a mushroom journey,
but it was actually a mushroom crash course.
Let me take you back to 2006.
I was studying abroad in France,
in a town about three hours west of Paris,
and living with a French couple.
Just for fun, please enjoy some photos
of me visiting them a few years later.
Their names are Marcelle and Raymond
and they are just the most adorable,
wonderfully exuberant French couple.
Now, before we get to the mushrooms in the story, though,
I'm gonna tell you about these mushrooms right here.
Total for the soup,
you need two and a half pounds of mushrooms.
I am using a plain old cremini, aka baby bella mushrooms.
I buy them already sliced from the grocery store
'cause it's super quick and easy.
If you want to take this mushroom soup to the next level,
you can use a mix of mushrooms,
like oyster mushrooms and shiitake,
but really baby bella works great in this recipe.
Whatever you do, just stay away from
the white button mushrooms,
those lack flavor and they'll make your soup bland.
I'm sauteing about a quarter of the mushrooms,
maybe a third, for the moment,
and then once they are softened and brown
and give up their liquid,
I'm going to move them to a plate
and I'll show you what we are doing with those
here in a little bit.
It's been about eight minutes.
Our mushrooms are nice and brown and soft,
so I'm gonna remove them to a plate.
These we are going to use to garnish our finished soup,
make it look really pretty.
(gentle upbeat music)
Now that we have our garnish done,
I'm going to move on to cooking the mushrooms
for the main part of our soup,
using two tablespoons of butter
and a little bit of olive oil.
I like this combination because the butter has great flavor
but the olive oil is better for sauteing
because it has a higher burning point.
Now the rest of our mushrooms are going in.
I know this looks like an absolute ton of mushrooms,
but they're really going to cook down.
And I also think that having more mushrooms in the soup
gives it a more robust flavor
and it is what makes this the best cream of mushroom soup
you will ever try.
Next. I'm adding one diced yellow onion,
a teaspoon of salt, some dried thyme,
thyme and mushrooms are a fantastic pairing,
and a half teaspoon of black pepper.
We're gonna let this cook for about eight to 10 minutes,
stirring periodically,
until these mushrooms turn nice and dark brown
and the onions are softened.
It's really tempting to shortcut this step, but don't do it.
This is a really easy soup recipe
and the sauteing is what builds the base of flavor.
Just look how much these mushrooms have cooked down.
It's kind of crazy and they are looking so beautiful
and smelling delicious too.
So back to 2006, this was my first night
and my very first dinner with Marcelle and Raymond.
I spoke decent French,
all my classes were in French back then,
but I was still really, really nervous.
And those nerves were further exacerbated
when Raymond sets a giant plate
heaped with citrus mushrooms down in front of me,
for our dinner, like a dinner of only mushrooms,
and 2006 Erin did not like mushrooms at all.
I have added some garlic to our mushrooms.
I like to wait to add it
because if you put the garlic in too early,
it can burn and it will give an off taste to your soup.
I sprinkled some flour over the top,
this is white whole wheat flour,
and I want to cook it with the mushrooms
until it starts to smell nutty
and all of those white bits disappear.
If you shortcut this step,
you'll get a raw flour taste in your soup.
It's really unpleasant.
Next, I'm going to splash in about three fourths cup
of dry white wine,
(gentle upbeat music)
give or take a little.
The wine deglazes the pan
and we want to rub along the bottom
to get all those stuck on bits off.
That is full of flavor.
Let the wine cook down for about a minute.
Now I'm going to slowly splash in
about three cups of vegetable broth or chicken broth,
as you prefer.
You want to do this gradually
to make sure that you don't end up with any lumps.
(gentle upbeat music)
In addition to the vegetable broth,
I am using a can of evaporated milk.
This is a little bit of an unusual ingredient.
Most of the time cream of mushroom soup
calls for heavy cream.
I find that evaporated milk does just as good of a job,
the soup will taste super decadent still,
but it makes it more of a healthy mushroom soup.
We're going to bring this to a simmer
and then let it reduce for about 10 minutes.
15 years ago, I did not eat mushrooms.
I avoided them at all costs, yet here I was with this family
that I was going to be living with for four months,
I really wanted them to like me
and I could not make a bad impression our first night
by refusing this dish.
So I buckled up, I took a bite, and oh my goodness,
the mushrooms were absolutely delicious.
I have loved them, loved them ever since.
And in the cooler months,
there is no better way to cook mushrooms
than this hearty, comforting cream of mushroom soup.
It's been about 10 minutes and I can see our soup is reduced
and is looking nice and creamy.
So now to make it smooth,
I'm going to puree it with an immersion blender.
This is my favorite way to blend soup
because I don't have to get any other pots dirty.
If you don't have an immersion blender,
you can just ladle the soup into a regular blender.
Be careful not to overfill it.
Hot soup loves to splatter.
You can make the soup as smooth or as chunky as you like.
We like ours with a little bit of texture,
so I think it is perfect just like this.
Now for the fun part, the finishing ingredients
that make this soup something truly special.
First up is Greek yogurt.
Again, this is a healthy mushroom soup,
it does not call for heavy cream,
but it still tastes super decadent,
and one of the reasons is this ingredient right here,
full-fat Greek yogurt.
Do not use non-fat Greek yogurt.
It can curdle when mixed into hot liquids
and it just won't taste as good.
And to finish things off, I have it to stealth ingredients.
You can't taste them separately,
but they work quietly in the background
to make this mushroom soup
taste like something restaurant-worthy.
The first is balsamic vinegar,
that really makes the soup pop.
(gentle upbeat music)
My second sneak ingredient is a little bit of soy sauce.
I know that sounds strange,
but soy sauce has a major savoriness and umami factor
that makes this soup taste truly rich and complex.
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The smell of the mushrooms and the garlic
is absolutely mouthwatering.
I love how creamy this soup is too.
I like to serve it topped with the sauteed mushrooms,
gives a little texture and a nice presentation,
plus a sprinkle of fresh herbs.
A very special thank you to Marcelle and Raymond.
If it weren't for them, I would have been missing out
on just how delicious mushrooms can be.
I'm so glad that I got out of my comfort zone
that night in France.
If you are looking for another hardy vegetable soup,
don't miss my cozy roasted carrot soup video.
(gentle upbeat music)
Perfect. Now that is well plated.