Wild mushroom soup with sherry and thyme

In our house, a hearty wild mushroom soup is the ultimate comfort meal. For a wonderful, rich, and earthy soup, this recipe asks for both sherry-soaked dried wild mushrooms and cremini mushrooms.

We were living in San Francisco around the time Sean and I moved in together for the first time, and his birthday was coming. We were both striving to get ahead at the time (I was a full-time graduate student while working full-time directing an after-school program, and teaching part-time at the university). So I decided to purchase a cooking lesson for Sean. In the back of my mind, I only wanted to acquire a few skills so that I could cook some delicious meals at the end of a hard day.

The program was named "Soups, Broths, and Sauces," and it was designed to teach the basics of, well, liquids. He returned from class energized and eager to serve me a soup that he had learned to make in class. Needless to say, the first item she learned to prepare confidently was a basic wild mushroom soup. We've evolved a lot since then, but the principles of making soup from scratch remain the same.

It was certainly a gift that keeps on giving! Okay, let's move on. Teach a man to fish.

We also have a lot of access to wild mushrooms because we live in the Northwest. There are big food collectors everywhere, and farmers’ markets are teeming with them. For taste, we like to use a variety of mushrooms. Don't be afraid to adjust the mushrooms to what you have available in your region.

CHANTERELLE MUSHROOMS, FORAGED IN THE WILD

As in this variation, we also include some fresh Cremini mushrooms. A hybrid of the two. Cremini mushrooms are just the baby or smaller form of Portabello mushrooms, and they may be found both wild and cultivated (but what you find in stores are usually the cultivated versions).

HOW SHOULD MUSHROOMS BE KEPT?

• For optimum results, store it in a brown paper bag. If you Buy shrooms online in plastic wrap, place them in a brown paper bag to absorb any excess moisture. This method was taught to me by one of Washington state's top mushroom farmers.

• Consume as soon as possible after purchase.

• The mushrooms may be stored in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days before they lose their freshness.

• Do not clean or wash mushrooms until you are ready to utilize them.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN MUSHROOMS?

The most essential guideline for mushrooms is to keep them dry. The two simplest techniques for removing potential dirt from the fungus are a dry or slightly moist paper towel or a kitchen towel.

• Place the mushroom on a clean, dry kitchen towel or paper towel.

• Brush the dirt off the mushroom cap and roll it gently to remove the stem.

• Before cooking, keep it dry.

WHERE CAN I FIND WILD MUSHROOM SOUP?

The stages in preparing a wild mushroom soup are critical to preventing the soup's texture from becoming ugly. If you add the liquid first, the mushrooms will have a smooth, almost gelatinous texture. In general, we go in the following order:

• Brown the onions and mushrooms in a skillet.

• Make a roux

• Add liquid and flavoring

• Finish by tempering in a cream - in our case crème fraîche

We enhance the flavor by using a good grade Sherry (NOT "COOKING SHERRY"!). Sorry to shout, but the trick is to pick a sherry that you enjoy drinking (if you don't, don't use it). To add Sherry flavor, we rehydrate the dried mushrooms in sherry and then add them to the soup as part of the liquid once they have been rehydrated.

We concluded with some delicious crusty bread. As an extra treat, cook some fresh chanterelles or cremini in butter as a topping. if you want to get more information, please visit the website

https://fantasyshrooms.ca/