frenched fungi.

Soup.
Yet another one of winter's pleasures!
[aren't I awfully positive these days?]

It amazes me, this whole www world of cooking. There are so many different soup recipes out there it seems like absolutely anything can be made into soup!

Next thing you know, I'll be posting about leather soup: a delicious broth made from old watchbands.

Watch out!

Now, the problem with soup is that its place in a meal is questionable. If you want a soup course or a soup appetizer, how do you make it light enough to allow some appetite to remain for a future course? If you want it as a main course or half of a main course, how do you make it heavy enough to keep you full through the afternoon or night?

Well, I considered this question quite seriously the other day as I was wanting to make soup, and only soup, for dinner. More specifically, I was set on a mushroom soup--I haven't had a mushroom based meal in a while and I felt I'd neglected the poor fungi.

Most mushroom soup recipes out there are cream soups. Now, I love cream soups, don't get me wrong. I mean, in my opinion, homemade Cream of Mushroom soup is probably one of manure's greatest gifts to the world. It's a superb and classic soup.

But, on this particular day I didn't want a cream soup. Sure, it would have fulfilled the requirements of a soup focused meal--it's heavy and filling--but not in the way I was craving. I wanted juicy, meaty, rustic mushrooms in all their glory.

Ironic, given that I used to despise the slimy, grimy, manure covered things.

So, I got to thinking: how could I pump up my non-cream soup without overwhelming the flavor and texture of the mushrooms?

Well, two of the great soup "heartiers" are cheese and bread. But how to make it such that they didn't take over the dish? You see, the problem was that I wanted to include the flavor of the cheese and bread--not just the texture and filling capacity--but I didn't want them to be the soup.

This really is a problem. The flavor of mushrooms, while strong on their own, is easily lost when other bold ingredients are introduced into the mix. To make a good mushroom soup, one that keeps the flavor of the mushrooms and actually tastes good, is a difficult feat.

So, I thought. And I picked some tiny zircon crystals. And I thought.

Then I thought again and an idea came to me: why not make it like French onion soup--with a crouton and melted cheese floating on top?!?

Brilliant, I thought. This way I would keep the flavors and textures strong but separate, they would be incorporated in small bits-per-bite that would allow the mushroom broth to stay the focus . I could even use a sharp cheese!


And so, I give you today's menu:

French Mushroom Soup


The result of the experiment was fantastic. The spicing was just right and those mushrooms shone shone shone through in all their earthy splendidness. The textures and flavors of the cheese and bread were all there, but I always knew I was eating mushroom soup.

To further vindicate the recipe, I had the leftover soup for lunch the following day and the broth stood strong on its own--so, I wasn't "hiding" anything with the cheese and bread, it just served as a perfect compliment.

Precisely what I wanted.


French Mushroom Soup

[note: you really want to get a variety of mushrooms. they all have different flavors and textures and that's what makes this soup what it is. don't worry about having everything be chopped to the same size--that's not what you want, just slice them so they can be eaten in a bite. remember, too, that mushrooms lose a lot of water when they are cooked.]


for the soup:

1/2 large onion, sliced
1-1/2 lbs various mushrooms [such as crimini, portabella, and shitake], thickly sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp fresh sage, chopped
1/2 tsp medium hot dried red pepper, chopped or red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
1/4 c dry white wine
4 c vegetable or beef broth [go for a low sodium brand if you can]
olive oil

for the cheese and bread topping:

1 c emmentaler, gruyere, or other swiss cheese, coarsely grated
1 c bread cubes


directions:

1. make the soup
a. in a large pot, heat some olive oil. add onions and cook over medium-high heat until translucent.
b. add mushrooms and cook out most of the water--they will reduce to 1/2 or 1/3 of their original volume.
c. add thyme, rosemary, sage, and red pepper. let cook 30 seconds-1 minute.
d. add white wine and simmer until reduced by half.
e. add broth and bring to a boil. reduce heat to a low simmer, cover, and let cook another fifteen minutes while preparing the topping.

2. make the topping
a. grate cheese and set aside.
b. in a skillet, heat up some olive oil. add the bread cubes and reduce heat to low-medium. cook the cubes, stirring often, until they are toasted. alternatively, you can put them on a baking sheet in a 300F oven for a few minutes.

3. serve the soup
a. ladle soup into bowls. cover the top with bread cubes. sprinkle cheese over top. the cheese will melt from the heat of the soup--if it doesn't, put them in a 300F oven until it is melted.
b. brown the cheese:
i. if your bowls can be put under the broiler, broil for 1 minute or until the cheese gets brown.
ii. if your bowls can not be put under the broiler, use a butane torch to brown the cheese.
iii. don't bother, go straight to the consume stage.

a big merci beaucoup to mushroom cultivating poo!




Comments, questions, and recipe alterations are always more than welcome.