Thyme and Mushroom Soup

This recipe was inspired by the simply yummy soup Cakes and I had at the Wharfside in Victoria last week. Cakes had the soup, mostly, as I ordered something else, although he did offer me his last spoonful. That's true love.

It's really healthy too, creamy without the use of any cream at all, only a small knob of butter. It wouldn't hurt to chuck some cream in though if you were so inclined. I'd just increase the salt a smidgen to compensate.

Serves 6

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, sliced
5 fat cloves garlic, chopped
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (removed from the stems)
10 cups sliced assorted mushrooms (One very full brown paper mushroom bag will slice up into about 10 cups)
1 cup white wine
1 litre chicken stock
1 teaspoon sea salt (depending on how salty your stock is)
1 teaspoon cracked pepper

Melt butter in the bottom of a large stockpot. Cook and stir onions, garlic and thyme over medium heat for 5 or so minutes, until onions begin to brown and the scent of thyme fills your kitchen. Add mushrooms and cook, over med-high, heat stirring only occasionally, to brown the  mushrooms a bit before they start giving off too much water. Continue to cook, stirring for 6 to 8 minutes. Add in remaining ingredientsand simmer for 20 minutes. ladle off 1/2 the mixture into a bowl to cool slightly. Once it is cool enough that it won't blow the top off your blender, whizz it in the blender at high speed until smooth. Return to the pot and heat through.

Serve this with lots of crusty bread and room-temperature goats cheese.

Comments

[McAuliflower]

Yessss... soup season!

bring it on!

I over-dosed on this soup last winter. I also like to add a splash of sherry vinegar at the end. I think I'm ready to do it again!

[Niki]

I did the same thing after hearing about (not tasting) a thyme, mushroom and barley soup this winter. I attempted my own, which wasn't bad but I added too much barley and it turned into concrete. Hmmmmm.
Yours looks spectacular though, and I hope to try it...after our summer fades (which consdering the heat already, won't be for AGES)

[Lyn]

Mushroom and Thyme really were meant to be together for the rest of their lives.

McAuliflower - I simply love soup season. There are so many great things you can do!

Niki - I've never really liked barley in a soup. You do have to be very careful with how much you put in or is does sort of take the whole thing over and make it into a porridge.

[shauna]

This looks so good that I featured it in this week's roundup of the best gluten-free recipes on the web!