Mushroom-Tarragon Soup

From Kim Bellware

Serves 4-6

[Ed: How did I not get a photo of this? Boo. You’ll just have to use your imagination. Visualize a crock full of rich, thick, pale-brown puree. Or, well, OK. Maybe we didn’t need a photo. Photo obtained! (Thanks, Kim.) And it looks good bathed in that amber light. Still, it’s mushroom soup — it always tastes better than it looks. And it tasted damn good.]

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 tablespoons butter (divided)

1 pound white mushrooms, sliced (mix in shitakes for more robust flavor) plus extra for garnish

3 ½ cups vegetable stock

3 tablespoons fresh tarragon, chopped

¾ cup sour cream (lite or full-fat variety)

kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

¼ cup dry white or marsala wine (optional)

Preparation

Heat chopped onions and half of butter in large skillet over medium heat. Cook until onions are soft and golden, 10 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms and remaining butter until mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes. If desired, add wine to vegetable mixture and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add cooked vegetables to Dutch oven or stockpot. Stir in vegetable stock and chopped tarragon, bringing mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer, 20 minutes.

Remove pot from heat. Using an immersion blender, blend mixture until smooth and uniform in consistency (Note: if using  a food processor or blender, let soup mixture cool to room temperature before blending).

Once mixture has been fully blended, return to heat and add sour cream, stirring well until incorporated. Soup will lighten in color.

Add sliced sautéed mushrooms to soup for additional texture; add salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving, drizzle olive oil over soup and sprinkle in chopped tarragon. Serve immediately.

Posted: Saturday Jan 30,2010 02:12 PM In Soup Recipes