PrintDinner Tonight: Bourdain's Mushroom Soup
"This is a ridiculously easy soup to make.” Well, okay then. Nothing like Anthony Bourdain telling you what to do. I was just innocently flipping through Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, grazing over his faithful French adaptations, when I came upon a recipe that sounded like the perfect Dinner Tonight recipe. How can you go wrong a recipe even he says is the easiest recipe in the whole book?
It wasn’t until about 20 minutes in that I snuck a look at the simmering time and noticed that it was an hour. That makes this recipe a little longer than most, but Bourdain was right about one thing: it is easy. Maybe I thought it took too much effort to make a delicious mushroom soup, but this thing can’t be stopped. I did have some fabulous homemade stock at my disposal and some good looking mushrooms, but there is no trickery here, no crazy techniques or ingredients. The sherry is about the only thing I don’t normally have. Other than that, it’s just some standard onions mixed with mushrooms, which somehow combine to make this fantastic soup. Even though I had to simmer the soup for about an hour, it was still one of the easier weeknight meals I’ve made, and, honestly, one of the most flavorful.
Bourdain’s Mushroom Soup
- makes 4 servings -
Ingredients
6 tablespoons butter
1 onion, thinly sliced
12 ounces button mushrooms, halved
4 cups chicken stock
1 sprig parsley
2 ounces sherry
salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Over medium heat, melt two tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan. Toss in the onion and cook until soft but not browned.
2. Toss in the remaining butter and then add the mushrooms. Cook for 8 minutes.
3. Pour in the chicken stock, add the parsley, and bring to a boil. When bubbling, reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour.
4. Pour soup into a blender (you might need to do this in stages), and process until smooth. Return to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour in the sherry, and season with salt and pepper.
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16 Comments:
I find Bourdain tends to dumb things down in service of sounding cool--like when he tells us, in that same book, that "if you can't properly roast a damn chicken then you are one helpless, hopeless, sorry-ass bivalve in an apron." Cute, but I think roasting a good chicken is an art!
Blake Royer at 7:36PM on 02/06/08
This is a good recipe. I tend to mess with it a little bit by adding some dried mushrooms and their soaking liquid, just because I like a little stronger taste.
And Blake, I must respectfully disagree about roast chicken being an art. I use Keller's method and it's the easiest, no brainer thing in the world. I've turned a ton of friends onto it, and when I make it for people, they swoon. So simple, my dog could do it :)
thefoodporncess at 9:00PM on 02/06/08
I made this recipe last weekend and it was wonderful. Super easy to make and really good. My family loved it.
churchka at 10:59PM on 02/06/08
Mmm--mushroom soup. One of my favs. As a vegetarian, I find it funny that it's tagged as such...with chicken stock. Heh.
emes1 at 11:20PM on 02/06/08
Almost anything cooked with that much butter (1.5 Tbsp per serving!) will be delicious. Even Keller's roast chicken recipe ends with "slather the meat with fresh butter". Feh.
overw8 at 5:23AM on 02/07/08
That sounds wonderful - can't wait to try it! Thanks for posting.
soisbelle at 7:41AM on 02/07/08
I made this soup for Christmas, it is delicious. Like thefoodporncess, I throw in some dried mushrooms to deepen the flavor. Les Halles is one of my go-to cookbooks.
ride&cook at 9:19AM on 02/07/08
Was this written before immersion blenders? I never pour hot soups into my blender anymore.
PerkyMac at 10:46AM on 02/07/08
Tend to agree with Blake somewhat. For a long time I have to admit Tony rather intimidated me by his vernacular in the Les Halles cookbook. I only looked at it as a really entertaining read and felt that any recipe failure on my part would amount to a demeaning redressing in oh-so-Tony terms and it would be necessary to slink out of the kitchen in shame never to return. One success from the book is a definite confidence builder, two successes and all of a sudden you're a cocky little hot shot. I worked up my nerve and tried the soup(which was great), salade nicoise, onion soup, many others. I'm on a roll now.
The only thing I can hear Tony yelling at me now is "Hey Ho Let's Go" girl!
frederika at 12:11PM on 02/07/08
emes1 - you could totally do a veg stock
hungrychristel at 1:23PM on 02/07/08
Does anyone know how well it freezes?
AddiE at 1:34PM on 02/07/08
Does anyone have a suggestion for the sherry in this recipe? I don't have it on hand and would prefer not to buy it just for this recipe.
ayngelina at 10:18AM on 02/08/08
could also use mushroom stock if you are veg.
karenita at 8:09PM on 02/10/08
Blake, I agree with you about Bourdain. He really isn't known for his cooking skills as much as he is for his personality. And I also agree with you that roasting a chicken is an art. Any housewife can roast a chicken, but it takes a keen cook to get the skin crisp and the meat moist and tender.
AddiE: I'm assuming that it freezes really well as cooked mushrooms do well in the freezer.
Chewy at 5:29PM on 02/11/08
Chewy owes his/her mother an apology along with "Housewifes" everywhere. Maybe you should pay attention to Batali when he talks about Italian cooking. Those little "mamas" and "grandmas" he's so fond of and credits with the true Italian cooking are...housewives. Ayngelina, as soon as you can, invest is a small bottle of sherry. It really does make a difference and you'll be surprised at how many recipes you can try or enhance with just a little. Question: If you don't like Bourdain's cooking why would you buy one of his books? That would be like buying a RR cookbook and using it as a doorstop.
misterybus at 9:54AM on 02/13/08
Batali also hates bloggers. Man, I'm so disillusioned.
Chewy at 5:09PM on 02/17/08