this is not a soup blog

Okay, this is the last soup recipe for a while. I promise other non-soup projects soon! But as long as I’m making up these recipes, I figure I might as well share them… I just made a delicious mushroom soup for lunch – here’s the recipe:

Mushroom Soup

16 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons flour (plus more, if desired)
2 quarts beef broth
1 cup milk
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1 teaspoon salt
generous cracked pepper
2 tablespoons port

Melt the butter in a soup pot and saute the onion until soft.

Add the thyme and saute 1 more minute. Add the flour and cook a couple more minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms.

If the mixture is dry, dribble in 1 tablespoon water. Cook 1 minute, or until slightly softened. Add the 2 quarts beef broth and bring to a boil. Add the salt and pepper, and simmer 1/2 hour. Add the milk and 1/2 and 1/2, adding extra flour to the milk if you want a slightly thicker soup. Puree the soup in a food processor and return to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and add the port.
2 tablespoons port

I made an incredibly good African Peanut soup this weekend, from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook. It’s not my recipe, but I found a link to it here. It’s spicy and wonderful, and I highly recommend it. VERY rich, though! Not an appetizer soup.

While we’re talking kitchen stuff, I’d like to point out the knives in the photos, above. They’re from Hida Tool in Berkeley, and they have made cooking so much better! Razor sharp, lightweight, perfect. I can chop up an onion in seconds. In addition to knives, they have all sorts of carving tools, bonsai tools and other gardening supplies. I just found they have a website too!