Rosie Makes Mushroom Soup.

 
 When the Foodie Gals, of Foodies Untie,
were visiting the other week,

I wanted Marilyn to make one of her recipes -

fettucini with a mushroom and cream sauce.

She'd brought MORELS for us -

something I can't get here.

When I went to the store to procure more mushrooms
for Marilyn's dish,

I bought the "Exotic Blend" offered by FoodLion,

consisting of oyster, crimini, and shiitake mushrooms.

I bought two packages and only one was used,

so, armed with my exotic blend,

 some mundane button mushrooms, 

dried paddy straw mushrooms,

and dried black fungi,

I decided to go earthy with a mushroom soup.

 My start-up ingredients:

 4-ounce package of exotic blend mushrooms

8-12 ounces of button mushrooms

a few dried paddy straw mushrooms

1 dried black fungus

1 onion

1 quart chicken stock

Additions:
handful of fresh parsley
splash of sherry
freshly ground salt and pepper
 lemon zest
black truffle oil

 I poured boiling water to cover the dried mushrooms

and covered the bowl with a plate.
Let soften.
About 20-30 minutes.

 

 I thinly sliced the onion and ...

...  added it to a tablespoon or so of butter.

 Sauté onions over medium low heat until slightly translucent.

 Add in more butter, 2-4 TB, 

let it melt, then pour in the shrooms and  ...

 ...  the hydrated shrooms and their likker.

 Add the chicken stock.

 Add the parsley.
Whole stems and leaves.
Not chopped.

 

 Turn heat to medium high,

bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer

and bare-simmer for 1 hour.

Go outside for a while.

Walk through the garden.

Come back inside.

Smell the earthiness.

 After an hour of bare-simmering,

I took the soup off the heat and let it cool for a bit.

Five or ten minutes.

Remove the parsley.

Then, working a few ladlefuls at a time,

add the mushrooms and broth to a processor and purée.

Do not process hot liquid.

Heat > Expansion > Disaster.

We do not want kitchen mishaps.

 Pour puréed mixture into a sauce pan and heat through.

   I reserved one of the black dried fungi

to slice for a garnish.

And I picked some English thyme,

some variegated lemon thyme,

and parsley.

 

 Taste test and add  Kosher salt

and freshly ground pepper to taste.

I gave it a scant tablespoon of sherry.

Stir it in and taste test.

 For serving,

I buttered and toasted some slices of bread,

added about one tablespoon of cream in the center 

and used a small fork to make rays.

Then I added some chopped baby chives,

 thinly sliced hydrated black fungus,,

parsley, English thyme, and a variegated lemon thyme.

And THEN, I zested some lemon over top.

 If you like earthy,

this is the ticket.

 Nice light touch with the lemon zest.

To take this to new heights,

give it a few drops of truffle oil.

Earthiness cubed.

Enjoy!