Yakityak's Cream of Mushroom Soup
Here's the problem with cream of mushroom soup recipes. They always call for chicken stock, and that ain't kosher. I had a hankering for cream of mushroom soup during Pesach, and that provided a second hurdle... how to deal with the prohibition of chametz. There are two major steps to this recipe. The first is to make a vegetable stock and the second is to convert that to legit cream of mushroom soup. It is not practical to make small amounts of vegetable stock, so my stock recipe is enough for two batches of cream of mushroom soup. Once the stock is made, you can freeze one half for later. (Or make a double batch of cream of mushroom soup. Your choice.)
Ingredients
- Vegetable Stock
- 3 cups water
- 1 small onion, quartered (or 1/2 larger onion cut up)
- 2 stalks celery cut into chunks
- 2 peeled carrots, cut into chunks
- 1 small peeled parsnip, cut into chunks
- 1 small bell pepper, seeded (or 1/2 larger bell pepper, seeded)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 5 grinds of fresh pepper
- Cream of Mushroom Soup
- approximaely 2 cups vegetable stock (half of what you made above)
- 2 chopped onions (chop fine)
- 6 cups of sliced fresh mushrooms
- 1 tsp of fresh minced sage (dried sage will do)
- 1/4 tsp of fresh thyme leaves (dried will do)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoos flour (if wanting for pesach, use matzah cake meal, potato starch or a combination thereof)
- 1.5 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1.5 cups half and half
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 grinds of fresh pepper
Method
Place vegetable stock ingredients in a medium stock pot and bring to a boil. Drop to a simmer and let cook until carrots and parsnip are tender - 35 - 45 minutes. Remove vegetables with a slotted spoon to a bowl and let cool enough to safely handle. Puree vegetables in a food processor and return to stock pot. At this point the vegetable stock could be frozen or set aside for later use. If making cream of mushroom soup immediately, go on to the second step.
In a large saucepan, put the mushrooms, onions, sage, thyme and stock on medium heat. Cook until tender - approcimately 15 - 20 minutes. Set aside.
In a wide stockpot, melt the butter and whisk in the flour (or kosher l'pesach equivalent) until smooth. Add the salt, pepper, and half and half and stir well. Do not let a skin form but bring the half and half up to temperature. Add the contents of the saucepan to the stockpot, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil with constant stirring until it thickens. Add the wine and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve.