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a plain bowl of creamy beige mushroom soup with browned thick cremini and shiitake mushroom slices visible in the partly blended broth, with no rice, chicken, herb sprigs, cream swirl or garnish
Rachel Kim

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Roasting the mushrooms on a roomy sheet lets their edges brown before they enter the soup. Blend only half the finished broth and vegetables, leaving enough pieces that the bowl still feels like mushroom soup rather than a smooth sauce. Sherry goes into the hot pot before the broth so it gets a short simmer of its own. Crème fraîche finishes the soup with a little tang, and it should melt in over low heat. Trim the tough shiitake stems away before roasting; the caps soften nicely, but woody stems will not become pleasant just because they spend longer in cream.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb cremini mushrooms thickly sliced
  • 8 oz shiitake mushroom caps thickly sliced, tough stems discarded
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp fine salt divided
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 medium shallots finely sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry
  • 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 cup crème fraîche

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss cremini and shiitake caps with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper on a large rimmed sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once, until browned and the released moisture has mostly evaporated.
  2. Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Cook shallots for 5 minutes and garlic for 30 seconds, then add sherry and simmer for 2 minutes.
  3. Scrape roasted mushrooms and their juices into the pot. Add broth, thyme and remaining salt and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Transfer half the soup, including mushrooms, to a heat-safe blending container and puree carefully. Return to the pot, leaving the other mushrooms in pieces.
  5. Stir in crème fraîche over low heat until melted and steaming, about 3 minutes. Divide among 4 bowls without boiling the finished soup hard.