Cream of Mushroom Soup

I have mentioned our Napa honeymoon a couple of times already. It was fantastic! The wine, the scenery.....and the food! On our last night there we ate dinner at The Martini House where Chef Todd Humphries is known for his love of mushrooms. This entire dining experience was nothing short of magestic! They actually have an open kitchen so while you are dining you can see what is going on. It was so cool to see everyone in action!

One of the best things that we had was a bowl of his cream of mushroom soup. When we got home, Mr. ShoeFanatic busted out our handy dandy immersion blender* and went to work. Here's how it went down.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 T butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
2 T all purpose flour
4 c chicken broth
1 c whipping cream (not heavy)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped chives for garnish

Melt butter in large dutch oven and saute garlic and shallots for about a minute. Add mushrooms and thyme; saute another 3-4 minutes or until they are soft. (If you want to garnish your dish with sliced mushrooms like we did in the picture, take a few out of the pot at this point.)

Add flour and cook; stirring for approximately 1 minute. Add chicken broth, stirring continuously and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Whisk cream into the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper. Once you reached your desired taste, blend in a blender until smooth. (see note below about blender v. immersion blender)

Garnish with chives and mushrooms.

*We have made this twice. Once with an immersion blender and once with a regular blender. Both were good and the taste was not altered by either BUT we found that the one made with the regular blender was a little bit prettier and smoother. The one done with the immersion blender looked a little grainy. It didn't taste grainy but it looked it. The one in the picture was done with the regular blender.

Verdict:
When you finish eating this you will want to do one of two things:

1.) Lick your bowl
2.) Bathe in the soup

Whichever you decide is totally up to you. We promise not judge you.

Source:
The Martini House
AllRecipes.com