CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP RECIPE

Cream of mushroom soup is healthy, delicious and full of flavor but also fast and easy to make. Master the Art of French Cooking. A truly bowl of comfort.This simple, delicious soup is rich in flavor and fine in texture, perfect for entertaining large numbers of guests at fancy occasions or as a light, filling main course. Cream of mushroom soup isn’t just used by itself, however, and is a valuable, widely used ingredient in its own right. For example, many American cooks love adding cream of mushroom soup to their casseroles for both texture and flavor, where the soup effectively acts as a sort of mushroom gravy.

In some places, the soup is left to simmer over low heat, thickening its texture, before being poured over a simple meal of meat and chips. Popular meats for this usage of cream of mushroom soup are steak and chicken, and this is a great way to use any leftover soup the next day after serving. Remember, because this recipe includes a fair bit of dairy, to refrigerate any leftovers to keep them from spoiling, and be sure to use your leftovers within twenty-four hours of your serving time so you don’t lose any of your soup’s distinctive flavor.Variations of the cream of mushroom soup have been served in Romantic Europe for centuries, particularly in northern Italy and the truffle-growing regions of France, where mushrooms formed a staple of the local diet for countless generations. A mushroom-centered Béchamel sauce is very popular in France, and is often used as the basis for other recipes and soups, just as modern cream of mushroom soup is, particularly in the United States, where it’s actually referred to colloquially as “America’s béchamel”.

When cooking your onions, be careful to cook them to tenderness without letting them turn brown. The browning of onions is the natural sugars in the onion flesh crystallizing and sweetening the overall flavor – that’s why we call it caramelized onion. Letting your onions go tender but not brown will still remove some of their sharp tang, but won’t allow them to become overly sweet and spoil the subtle mixture of flavors in your cream of mushroom soup in the process.

You can garnish your cream of mushroom soup with some parsley, for freshness of taste and to add a spot of vibrant color to your otherwise monochrome soup. Of course, topping the soup with some mushroom caps leaves you with a very attractive serving plate that announces its contents and flavors upon sight, and adds the pleasant texture of uncooked mushroom to the palate. You can also sauté the mushroom caps for two to three minutes (or as long as it takes for them to go tender without losing shape or volume) with some thyme or sage, which will take away some of the crunch factor of your mushroom caps, but enhance the spices’ flavors already present in your soup. Of course, it’s perfectly fine to serve cream of mushroom soup without garnishes, as it’s commonly considered a working-class dish, and you’re prioritizing function over fashion when preparing it. If you’re feeling hungry, add a side of crusty, generously buttered garlic bread to your soup and enjoy the elegant mixture of creamy mushrooms and savory, buttery garlic bread.