This quick and easy, almost-homemade, rich soup is perfect for wintry days when calories don’t count. But if calorie counting is priority, then substitute heavy cream for half and half. But I say, using the real deal, is what makes cooking worth the effort.
Rustic Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 2TBL butter
- 2 TBL olive oil
- 1 White onion, chopped
- 2 TBL chopped garlic (from jar) or 2 cloves, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cracked pepper
- 1 PT heavy cream
- 1 - 1 1/2 LBS of mushrooms (washed and stems removed)
- 3 TBL of chicken bouillon granules or 2 cubes
- 2 TBS of dark red wine (not cooking wine)
- 1 can Campbell’s healthy choice condensed cream of mushroom soup2 - 3 tsp cracked pepper to finished soup
- salt to taste
- 8 Qt pan
- 2Qt sauce pan
Instructions
- In 8 quart pan, on medium to high heat, melt butter to foam and add olive oil.
- Add chopped onion and chopped garlic and sauté and add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper. (Regular pepper may be used, but cracked pepper is more flavorful.)
- Cook and stir for three or four minutes and reduce heat to medium.
- In the 2 quart pan, pour in the cream and add the chicken bouillon granules.
- And turn on medium to low heat. Heat this to dissolve the granules. Make sure you do not boil the cream. While this is heating, you may begin with the mushrooms.
- De-stem washed mushroom and slice the caps of the mushrooms very thinly and add to the butter and onions mixture and stir.
- Keep slicing several mushrooms and add to the onions and stir. You do not have to slice all the mushrooms at once then add them when done. Adding mushrooms as you slice allows the sauté mushrooms to seep out their juices.
- (Check the cream, make sure it is not boiling. You may turn off the heat once the granules are dissolved.)
- Once all the mushrooms are sliced and sautéed with the onions, stir several times to coat.
- Add the wine to the cream mixture and stir to blend.
- Pour the cream into the mushroom and onion mixture and stir.
- Add the can of soup and blend. You may add some water if you want the soup a little thinner. Add 2-3 teaspoons of cracked pepper and salt to taste. Lots of cracked pepper gives this soup a lot good flavor - it does not give it a pepper taste, just wonderful flavor.
- Reduce heat to low and keep warm while preparing the table and slicing the portobello mushrooms.
Quick notes
Total time: Prep and cooking time: 20 - 25 minutes
Number of servings (yield): 6
Portobello Mushroom Sticks
Summary: This is a great alternative to breadsticks and to slice some bits to sprinkle on top of the soup once served in the bowls.
Ingredients
- 2 large portobello mushrooms
Instructions
- Slice the portobello mushroom in thicker slices and stand them up in a cup or mug.
- Use parsley to gently keep them upright will help prevent them from breaking.
- Take one stick and cut in half and slice very thinly and use them to sprinkle on top of the served bowls for added flavor.
Variations
Suggested toppings for the soup: Crusty bread broken up in pieces, sliced portobello mushroom, and grated parmesan cheese and then cracked pepper.
Why, oh Why would you ruin a perfectly good soup by putting in a can of cream of mushroom soup? This would be a perfectly good soup without adding the extra salt and other undesirable ingredients.
I could have used this recipe last night! I will have to make the dish again soon and try this!
I like the almost home made part …
a good night for soup … the Chicago Bulls and soup
I’m liking this a lot
Hi Rollingstonemom,
I smiled when I read your comment. Actually my soup was created “backwards” years ago. I started out just using Healthy Choice Cream of Mushroom soup (and still do use the healthy version) for that very reason - less salt and 98% fat-free. And I followed the directions on the can, but felt it “needed something.” So, I then decided to add “just a few fresh mushrooms.” Then after some time, I decided, that sautéing some onions first then adding the mushrooms might be good…and then a couple years later, I thought….you know….I bet some REAL cream might be good too…but it didn’t have any flavor…so then I experimented by adding spices, wine…and so you know how the story goes from there! But actually, the “healthy canned soup” with my additions, became more “home-made” even though it came first.
It actually adds the thickness and it does add that familiar flavor we all grew up with. But like I said, I smiled when I read your comment about “adding canned soup to” my home-made soup, when originally, it really started out the other way around!
Thanks for viewing,
Elizabeth
I like the “mushroom sticks”…very clever!
I wonder if some vegetable stock could be substituted? I have a vegetarian who watches my ingredients like a hawk…
Hi Marie,
Hmmm…vegetable stock instead of cream…that would be good actually. It would just be a broth base instead of a cream soup. I would just sauté the onions and mushrooms a little longer for more flavor and maybe think of cutting the mushrooms a little thicker for substance. You should try it!
Elizabeth
Why not use rice milk, almond milk or even coconut milk as a substitute for cream for the vegetarians? I find any of these “milks” work really well in most recipes. Just a thought . . .