Reminiscing the cream of mushroom soup I had in Toronto’s Biff’s Bistro, I made my own version last night. I’m trying to watch my calorie intake these days so my version is not as creamy as I would have loved it to be. Instead of using heavy cream I added a few dollops of creme fraiche instead to make it rich.

The recipe below gives about 4 bowls of heart-warming soup.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil, or 1/2 stick butter
1/2 onion, cubed
5 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms of different varieties (I used a mixture of button and Swiss brown cap mushrooms)
1 litre (4 cups) stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 cup heavy cream, or 3-4 tablespoons creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
parsley (to garnish)

Method

1. In a medium sized stock pot, melt butter and saute onions until soft. Add in mushrooms and saute until soft (about 5-7 minutes).

2. Add in stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to medium. Continue boiling for 10-15 minutes.

3. When mushrooms are completely soft, turn off the heat. Using a handheld blender blitz the soup until mushrooms are finely blended. Alternatively, you can use a blender and pour soup back in the pot after blending. Bring the soup back to a simmer and add the heavy cream or creme fraiche. Mix well until cream is evenly mixed into the soup. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Serve in bowls and garnish with a few leaves of parsley if desired.