Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

200 g of button mushrooms
200g of mixed wild mushrooms; chantarelles, oyster mushrooms, porcini, etc.
1-2 garlic cloves
1 shallot, or 1 small onion
1 good quality vegetable stock cube
Butter
Fresh or dried thyme, a couple of parsley sprigs, and bay leaf (the classic bouquet garni)
Salt and pepper
About 1 cup of cream

Method:

  1. Brush off any dirt from the mushrooms with a moist paper towel. Thinly slice the button mushrooms; sort of cut up the wild mushrooms (the chantarelles and oyster mushrooms you can almost tear apart with your hands). Chop the garlic and shallot or onion finely.
  2. Heat about 1 Tbs. unsalted butter in a heavy-bottom pot. Add the garlic and shallots and saute until just limp. Add the button mushrooms, and a bit more butter if you like, and saute until the mushrooms start to shrink. At first they will give out a lot of moisture, which will evaporate quickly then the mushrooms will turn brown and shrink. Add the wild mushrooms at this point (they are more tender than the cultivated ones) and briefly saut?hem.
  3. Add enough water to make the mushrooms float just a bit (that means, enough to cover, and a bit more to that). Add the stock cube. At this point, add the thyme - dried of the leaves of a sprig of fresh, a bayleaf, and the parsley sprigs whole into the pot.
  4. Let this simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
  5. Add the cream, stirring. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer just a bit more (about 5 minutes) until piping hot. Take out the bay leaf and parsley before serving.