Cream of Mushroom Soup - Homemade and Just Like La Madeleine

La Madeleine's cream of mushroom soup has been one of my favorites since college. It never occurred to me to make it at home, but when hubby brought home 5 lbs of mushrooms his firm used in a photo shoot, I needed a mushroom heavy recipe. This mushroom supply was ill timed. I'd already made dinner and we were leaving in the morning for a camping weekend. But you can't turn down free food, so I polled facebook fans, and did some research and learned, you can blanch mushrooms, then freeze in the blanching liquid (mushroom broth). Hubby and I had fun with our mushroom shenanigans and eating the spoils a week later was well worth the effort.

Now you know what to do when your supermarket has mushrooms on buy one get one sale. Stock up, and get some in the freezer to toss into spaghetti sauce or soup pot!

Top on hubby's complaint list of my menu repertoire is the lack of the ground meat & Campbell's cream of mushroom soup recipes his mama made frequently when he was a kid. Nary a can of cream of X soup to be found in my pantry! He is so happy when we dine with nana and she whips up a batch of loose meats (best I can tell this the Midwest version of a white sauced sloppy joe). Hubby tolerates a lot of my real food cooking, so I like to prepare dishes that are both wholesome and hit his soul the way these childhood meals do.

I knew precisely what this glut of mushrooms should be used for. Cream of mushroom soup for the freezer stash, to be paired with future recipes of ground beef and tossed in casseroles. But not jut any old cream of mushroom soup. I was going to make it my way, good enough to put in the bowl on it's own and shine as the star of dinner. I trolled the google for a la Madeleine copy cat recipes and found a simple one that would work. It so worked, my mouth was in heaven. I made a batch to use up all the mushrooms I had, for a smaller recipe, check out the one at allrecipes.com.

Kiddos Love them or Hate them: Mushrooms
Do your kids like mushrooms? Facebook Fans Kiddos are split down the middle, about half do, half don't. Big boo used to pick mushrooms off pizza, every time. If you haven't read these two posts about how I got my kids to like mushrooms, check them out. I was AMAZED it only took one time to get them to try them (and eat them all) and one more time recipe before they both claimed to love them. Now, when I serve either veggie stir fry, mushroom rice pilaf, or pasta with mushrooms and chevre, they pick the mushrooms out first and gobble them.

Cream of Mushroom Soup - La Madeleine copy cat inspired by allrecipes.com posted by karena

ingredients
5 lbs white button mushrooms whole, blanched
5 cups mushroom broth (blanching liquid)
1-2 diced onions
1/2 tsp herbes de provence (or substitute thyme)
6 TBSP butter
5 TBSP whole wheat flour
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 TSP black pepper
2 cups half n half
2 TBSP orange juice (sherry substitution)

directions
In a large sauce pan cook the mushrooms, broth, onion, herbes de provence over medium heat until tender about 20 minutes. Puree mushrooms, onion and broth in a food processor in batches, or use immersion blender to puree in the pot. Remove puree to a bowl or get a new pot out and melt the butter. Add the flour, whisk until smooth and cook the roux for one minute. While whisking, add the half n half, salt, pepper and mushroom puree and bring mixture to a boil. Cook until thickened, then add the orange juice. Serve with whole grain bread, butter and jam.

Freeze leftover soup in 14ish oz batches in ziplock bags or freezer safe containers to use in future meals.


Kid Appeal Tip Despite my great enthusiasm my boys did not go for this soup. I won't lie and say I wasn't heartbroken that they couldn't share my love of cream of mushroom soup with me, but reminded myself it was the first time they'd had it. They have a lifetime to learn to like new foods, and I know that since they already love mushrooms and accept soup, I suspect eventually they'll like cream of mushroom soup. Until then, I can live with them taking a couple mandatory bites of soup and eating a couple slices bread, butter and jam for dinner. I thanked them for trying, and reminded them, that sometimes it takes a while to learn to like a food. This soup is likely one of those things. They can try it again next time to see what the verdict is. I know they'll eat it mixed up with ground beef or in chicken and rice casserole, so they won't completely miss out!

What's your favorite restaurant soup you wish you could make at home?