I love soups, but the cream of mushroom is my favourite soup ever since I was a child.

Well, I have been so busy lately and pretty much feeling exhausted. So, pipping hot soup sounded pretty amazing at the moment.

Plus, it was raining for five straight days last week and it was necessary to comfort. I am not a fan of summer, especially the peak of the summer season.

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Do you have a favourite soup? Maybe a dish that you love and eat when you feel blue or tired?

I sure do and trust me there are too many to count.

This is what I was humbly craving for the last several days and finally had a chance to make it.

It was pure comfort and each spoon felt like a stress reliever in a true form.

I typically tend to add a bit more ground black pepper, but do not worry, I did not add my real preference amount in this recipe.

I will intentionally leave that to you to decide what is right for your taste buds.Since nobody was home, I had time to relax and enjoy a full bowl of hearty soup and some couch TV time afterwards.

To be honest, that is most definitely my kind of night. Not too fancy, but I would not change it for anything. I am pretty low maintenance gal.

Sometimes, we dearly need a moment just for yourself, am I right?

Well, there is nothing better when those moments include tasty comforting soup and some mindless tv.

If you get inspired and make Cream of Mushroom Soup using my recipe, please tag me on Instagram.

@sandraseasycooking with hashtag #sandraseasycooking. Thank you so much for all your continued support.

Yield: Serves 4

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Print

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Making Mushroom Stock Time 15 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup fresh portobello mushrooms
• 1 cup fresh crimini (or porcini) mushrooms
• 1 cup heavy whipped cream
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste, generous pinch or two

Garnish

• Shredded cheese
• chopped parsley or dried parsley
• crunchy bits of bacon

Instructions

Clean Mushrooms:

1. Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a dry paper towel, but you can wash them too just before cooking. Separate the stems, trim off any bad parts, and coarsely chop the stems.
2. Slice the mushroom caps about 1/4-inch thick and, if they are big, cut them into bite-sized pieces. Set aside

Make soup:

1. In a large pot, heat the butter and add sliced mushroom and garlic.
2. Cook for about 5 minutes on low heat, or until they are just a bit browned and tender.
3. Add the flour and cook for about 30 seconds. Keep mixing so it doesn't burn so smooth it out.
4. Add a few splashes of vegetable stock while scraping the bottom of the pot. You want the flour to blend smoothly and become thicker.
5. Now, add remaining vegetable stock, heavy whipped cream and a pinch of black ground pepper. Bring to a light boil. Continue mixing.
6. Reduce the heat to lower temperature, and simmer for about 15 minutes. This soup could burn fast, so you must cook low and slow with occasional stirring.
7. Season with salt to taste, keep stirring for about 5 minutes or until it is creamy and thick.

Garnish:

Add shredded cheese, bits of crunchy bacon and chopped parsley

Notes

• You do not have to necessarily use all three kinds of mushrooms, just in case if you have one or two double or triple the amount.
• You can use bacon fat instead of the butter. It gives you a wonderful smoky aroma.
• If you are vegetarian omit bacon obviously.
• Also, you may serve it with a bit of cheese. Amazing taste!

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Finally, cold weather is creeping in with possibilities of snow. I was waiting for the snow to start falling down, as well as my kids. The other day my youngest one says” but…but mom it’s December where is the snow?”

Funny and smart little man but how to explain to a 6-year old that he might just see the glimpse of the white blanket on the ground. 

But let’s get back to the soup…
My family eats a lot of soup on a daily bases. We have to have a bowl of warm soup each and every day, no matter what kind.

It might be just ramen from the cup done in 5 min. or some gourmet soup that take some time to cook. Soups are a staple of our household. 

Just last week I had a “Shiro miso” soup from the package, and I loved it since I didn’t have to do much of a cooking and didn’t feel well enough to cook, but this weekend I made stock and kept it in the fridge for later use, which was fast for me to make a soup in a few minutes. 
This miso soup was just slightly changed in measurements that I experimented according to my taste but it’s not extreme change from her original recipe. 

What is Shiro-miso? 
It is Japanese white fragmented bean paste. 

In Japan, soups are eaten every day and Shiro miso soup served with steamed rice is the most simple and delicious soup, not to mention healthy. 

Dashi is essential for Japanese cooking. It is like bouillon cube in Western cooking to make the flavor of the dish richer and tastier.

Dashi is a basic stock made from variation of dry ingredients, and to name most common ones such as dry Kelp or you might saw as a Kombu, Bonito flakes (Katsuobushi-dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna used extensively in Japanese cuisine, where it is known as katsuo), and/or Shiitake dashi made from soaked Shiitake Mushrooms. 

All those could be easily found in Japanese markets, as well in larger International stores or of course online.  

Print

Miso Soup with Tofu

slightly adapted from Just One Cookbook

Course Soup

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword soup, asian food, japanese,

Author Sandra | Sandra’s Easy Cooking

Ingredients

• 4 Cups of Dashi
• 1 Tbs. Soy sauce
• 3 Tbs. Shiro Miso Paste
• 1 Cup firm tofu diced into small cubes
• 2 Wakame-Seaweed  soaked (it’s not nori) *optional
• 2-3 Scallions chopped

Instructions

1. Bring stock(dashi) to boil and stir in soy sauce.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix about 1/4 cup of the warm stock into the miso paste with a wire whisk until the miso is dissolved.
3. Pour this mixture back into the remaining stock and stir.
4. Soak the wakame in a hot water until soft/or you can boil it for a minute or two.
5. Place scallions, cubed tofu, and soaked wakame into bowls and gently ladle soup into the bowls.

Dashi:

1. 1 Dried Kelp(Kombu)
2. 1 Handful Bonito Flakes
3. 6 Cups of water

Dashi Directions:

1. Wipe the kombu(Dried Kelp).
2. Put water in a pot and soak kombu in the water for about 15 minutes.
3. Put the pot on low heat to simmer and remove the kombu just before the water boils. Add katsuobushi(bonito flakes).
4. Remove any foam that rises to the surface, and turn off the heat.
5. Let it set until bonito flakes sink on the bottom.
6. Strain the stock through the clean thin cloth or thick paper towel.
7. *Dashi can be stored in airtight jars or containers and in the fridge for later use for up to 5 days.
8. Cool way to preserve the flavor, you can pour dashi in the ice-cube dishes and freeze–for serving or two you would just need to drop them in the pot with water to flavor some other dishes.

Recipe Notes

Difference between Wakame and Nori: Nori is red algae and it is pulped and laid out to dry in thin, paper-like sheets, cut into squares, where wakame is simply dried whole seaweed and not pulped. However, wakame can be found fresh and in sealed packages in refrigerated sections. Nori is meant to be eaten dry and used for sushi, garnishes, snacks however wakame is tough if dried, made out of the brown seaweed and it has to be soaked/or boiled. If you are vegetarian/vegan use Shiitake dashi instead of katsuobushi (bonito flakes).