A few weeks ago Jeff and I went to Fish & Farm for dinner (which was wonderful, I recommend!). While we were waiting for appetizers they brought out complementary shot glasses of mushroom soup, and it was good! Really good, so good that in fact I've been craving mushroom soup ever since. Sifting through some books and food blogs, I realized I didn't want cream in the soup and wanted the mushroom flavor to speak for itself. Heartily. And this did. The recipe is partially Jamie Oliver and partially from Fields of Greens cookbook from Greens Restaurant here in SF.

One of the main differences between the recipes here is that the onions are caramelized separately (Greens), but the rest is pretty old school. And I did add some dry sherry where Oliver's recipe did not. Although I used beef broth pretty much any broth can be used, vegetable or mushroom stock can be replaced if you prefer a vegetarian version.

Mushroom soup
(Adapted from Jamie Oliver and Green's "Field's of Greens" cookbook)

1/2 ounce dried porcini
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound white button mushroom, cleaned and sliced 1/4"
1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 1/4"
5 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 large yellow onion thinly sliced (mandolin works great)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
4 cups beef stock
1/2 cup dry sherry
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley leaves chopped (optional)
1 lemon (optional)

Place porcini in small bowl, add 1/2 cup of hot water to cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Strain porcini (in a coffee filter) to remove grit and save liquid in separate bowl. Chop porcini (discard any tough parts) and set aside.

In large wide pot (dutch oven or similar) add 1 tbsp olive oil then onions, cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add chopped porcini and 3 chopped garlic cloves, cook over medium heat for 20 minutes to caramelize onions, stirring occasionally as they will start to stick to pot, add a tablespoon or so of stock if it becomes too dry.

Remove onion porcini mixture from pot and set aside.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the same pot and add your mushrooms, brown/sear the mushrooms for about 10-15 mins, gently tossing them, then add 2 clove chopped garlic and 1 tbsp fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Add porcini liquid (1/2 cup) and half of sherry (1/4 cup), deglaze the pan and let simmer 5 mins

Return the onion porcini mixture to the pot, adding the rest of sherry and beef stock, let simmer 20 mins over medium to low heat.

Place all in the blender until smooth, I used a vitamix blender so it went really quick on high, about 10 seconds at most.

Bring soup back on stove for 15 mins or so.

Top with chopped parsley and a bit of lemon juice (optional)

Notes: I was hoping for a not-so-thick soup, and this soup is quite thick, I would recommend pureeing only half before returning to the pot if you didn't want it as thick as this. I think a little fresh sage and rosemary to go along with the thyme would work really well too.