1st Draft and Cream of Mushroom Soup

I finished the 1st draft of the manuscript of the first chapter of my thesis this weekend. I have been working on it for 1.5 years now...the analysis was complicated and took 6 months of that time to get a handle on...not to mention the 8 months it took to learn MATLAB and write the code to process my data before I could analyze it! I posted about MATLAB a while back. Teaching last term took so much of my time, writing definitely took the backseat. However, now that this term (labs start today!) is essentially a repeat (with minor modifications) of last term, I am hoping to have more time to write my thesis and blog!!! :)
Since I was up bright and early (5 am!) this morning preparing for my class and I finished early...I decided to post the recipe for this AMAZING cream of mushroom soup that I made (in my new enamel cast iron dutch oven, which I LOVE!!!) just before the Holidays!

Ingredients

Half cup of butter
Quarter cup of flour
1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 pound of mushrooms, finely chopped
1 pound of mushrooms, roughly chopped
4 cups of broth (I used capon broth since I had just made it but you can use chicken, veggie, turkey and even beef for different flavours)
4 cups of cream (half and half or whipping – I used 2/3 half and half and 1/3 whipping)
Quarter cup of fortified wine, such as sherry, port or Madeira

Salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp of Herbs de Provence

Preparation

1. Melt butter in soup pot on medium low heat

2. Add onions, garlic and salt. Sautee until they are soft.
3. Add mushrooms, and cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the fortified wine and cook for one to 2 minute(s). Here you want the mushrooms to take on the flavour of the wine but not to evaporate it all.
5. Add flour in a bit at a time, stirring it in as you do to help prevent lumps.
6. Add broth a bit at a time, stirring as you do to prevent lumps. After enough broth has been added to make everything liquid, add the rest of the broth.

7. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or so. This will allow the flour to thicken the soup somewhat.
8. Add the cream, pepper and Herbs de Provence. Gently simmer the soup without boiling for about ten minutes to allow the flavors to mix completely.
9. Taste the soup and add any salt, pepper or other spices you feel are missing!

This is a very versatile soup...the flavours will change depending on the type of mushrooms or broth or spices you use. So play with it and enjoy!!!

Have a great Monday! :)