Portabella Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

2 baskets of flavorful mushrooms roughly chopped

•  baby portabella works great
• OR 1 basket + 2 large portabellas
• OR 4-5 large portabellas

1 can chicken stock
1 yellow onion roughly chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 cups white wine
1 cup milk/cream (optional)
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp butter (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp corn starch
salt & pepper

Instructions:

**It will be much easier to make this soup if you have an immersion blender. If not, you will have to transfer the soup to a processor/blender and then transfer back.

In a heavy pot over high heat, add olive oil and onions and begin to brown for about 5 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, and rosemary.

Add the mushrooms and garlic. Over the next few minutes, the mushrooms will release their liquids.

Once the liquids have cooked down to half, add the wine and let it cook down to half of that.

Add the chicken stock and a full can of water and bring to a boil. Reduce down to a simmer and cook covered for 5 minutes.

Add the milk/cream.

Process the soup with the immersion blender to break up all the mushrooms into tiny bits. This will thicken the soup a bit. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer to a food processor or blender to puree. Take care not to overblend. Also, be careful when placing a lid as hot liquids can blow the topp of a blender.

In a small bowl, mix the corn starch with cold water to make a slurry.

While mixing the soup, pour the corn starch mixture in and integrate. The soup should thicken considerably. If it needs more thickening, add some more corn starch in the same manner, by mixing with cold water and integrating.

Turn off the heat and blend the butter in at the end. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.