I was born into a ‘soupy’ (soup loving!)  family.  I’ve fond memories of my sister and I whipping up soups as an appetiser to enjoy while watching telly just before dinner time when we were both still home. Everytime I head back home for holidays, or my sister visits me or I visit her, a bowl of soup will always make an appearance at some point. I even kid that my sister takes an 8 hour flight to Singapore just for my soup because that’s the first thing she asks about after a hug at the airport! Her favourite is my Tom Yum and Hot and Spicy soup, but I will save that for another time and instead share an all time favourite – mushroom soup!

I had no idea how easy and satisfying  it was to whip this up at home until I had enough of eating watery disgusting canned stuff certain ‘restaurants’ (ahem!) serve at exorbitant prices. These pictures are from my very first experiment few years ago.

Since the weekend is just around the corner, it would be a good time to whip up this bowl of shroomy goodness.

Cast of characters:

• A variety of mushrooms (I think I used button, shitake and enoki, but you could use any!)
• Chicken stock (fresh, boxed or cubed version, I am not a food snob to condemn stock cubes, they make life easier, just use moderately!)
• Dried or fresh herbs
• A clove or two of garlic
• Milk
• Cream
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Props:

• A saucepan / Pot
• A blender

How to:

• Clean the mushrooms by running them under the tap and then by patting them dry using paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Then chop them up into small pieces.
• Heat up the oil and sauté the garlic and the mushrooms. The mushrooms while cooking would release quite a bit of liquid, but don’t be alarmed.
• Season with salt, pepper and herbs.

• When the mushrooms have cooked (wilted and browned), remove from heat and add in the fresh milk. I added about half to 3/4 cups of milk.
• Transfer the shroom mixture into a blender and blend it to your preferred consistency – smooth or chunky!
• NOTE: Please don’t ever try blending a very hot liquid because it WILL cause the pressure to increase inside the blender and result in an explosion. Trust me I’ve tried and ended up with hot soup all over me and a few blisters for a week and a half. Adding cold fresh milk usually helps to bring down the temperature and makes ir safer to blend. You could also hold the lid firmly by using a kitchen towel over the lid.
• Once the mixture is blended, transfer it back to the pot and add in the fresh/ boxed stock or the stock cube diluted in warm water. Bring the soup to a boil one more time and you are ready to serve!
• You could lastly drizzle abit of cooking cream to give it an extra bit of richness and make the humble home made soup look a bit more restaurant worthy.

Sidekicks:

• Good on its own but amazing with some warm crusty garlic bread. I.e crusty bread slathered with a mixture of butter, grated cheese, garlic, herbs  and toasted till golden.