Monday, June 25, 2012

Soup To Soothe The Soul


We are keeping on with things.  It's hard in the morning not having the usual Moose things to do, and I miss him sitting on the couch.  He'd sit next to me, and every so often he'd push his little body up against my leg, and it was dang cute.  

Anyway we still need to eat, and I always like to eat soup to soothe my broken heart.  We had a bunch of mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be used, and we happened to have almost all the ingredients for this soup.  When I want to make a soup, the first place I look is The Soup Bible.  I love this cookbook, 250 pages of awesome soup recipes.  Any soup ingredient you want to use, there is probably a soup for it in this book.  Today I'm sharing a recipe called Mushroom, Celery, and Garlic Soup.

Ingredients:
- 4 1/2 chopped mushrooms
- 4 celery stalks
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons of white merlot (the book calls for dry sherry or white wine)
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 2 table spoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg (the book says freshly grated, I wanted a milder flavor)

Directions:
Clean and chop the mushrooms, and celery stalks, and garlic cloves.  Then place them in a large saucepan, with the white merlot, or whatever alcohol you use.  Let cook, covered for 30 - 40 minutes, or until tender, stir occasionally.  Once cooked pour into a food processor with 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, and blend until smooth.  Pour back into the large saucepan, add the other 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil, and add salt and fresh ground black pepper to season.  

Serve warm.  It had a tiny bit of a kick to it.  The soup was fresh and earthy tasting.  A great vegetarian option.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy Nom Nom Monday, chris.