A Little Personal History:

I've always enjoyed a great bowl of mushroom soup. It's also an important ingredient in many dishes. This recipe is an Emeril hack.

Description:

Description Text

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs unsalted butter

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• 1 cup yellow onions (1 medium onion), chopped
• ½ cup celery (approx. 2 stalks), chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, pressed
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

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• 6 oz. shiitake mushrooms; cleaned, stems trimmed, and sliced
• 6 oz. oyster mushrooms; cleaned, stems trimmed, and sliced
• 8 oz. cremini or button mushrooms; cleaned, stems trimmed, and sliced
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

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• ⅓ cup brandy

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• 6 cups Lars's Chicken Stock

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• 1 ½ cups heavy cream

Procedure:

1. Add butter to small bowl or plate. Set aside.
2. On cutting board, chop onions, celery; press garlic. Set aside in small bowl. Add cayenne pepper to bowl.
3. Slice mushrooms. Set aside in large bowl. Add thyme, salt and pepper to bowl.
4. Pour brandy into small bowl. Set aside.
5. Pour chicken stock in  2 quart container. Set aside.
6. Pour cream in medium bowl. Set aside.
7. In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, cayenne and garlic. Cook, stirring with wooden spoon, until soft, about 4 minutes.
8. Add 1 cup of chicken stock to pot.
9. Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper. Saute, stirring until the mushrooms give off their liquid and start to brown, about 7 minutes.
10. Take off heat, add brandy. Return to heat and bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Add remaining chicken stock and return to a boil.
12. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
13. Remove from heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender, or food processor (depending on it's size, doing in batches may be necessary).
14. Return to pot, add cream, bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.
15. Remove from the heat, adjust seasoning to taste.
16. Ladle into soup bowls. Serve immediately.

Advanced Preparation:

• Steps 1-6 can be prepared in advance, sealed and refrigerated for up to a day in advance.
• This soup can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen till needed. If frozen, return to room temperature before re-heat.

Tips, Notes, and Variations:

• This soup is very rich. In part because I use it for recipes calling for condensed mushroom soup (e.g. Lars's "House Special" Quiche). Substitute milk, in place of the cream, and/or increase the amount of milk and/or chicken stock to thin it.