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Debbie Pribele
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in about 2 years
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Why haven’t I been making my own mushroom soup?
This week, I ordered a bulk order of mushrooms from our local Produce Express delivery service.
My goal was to freeze-dry the mushrooms as I only have one jar of them left in the pantry.
My goal was to freeze-dry the mushrooms as I only have one jar of them left in the pantry.
Freeze-drying Mushrooms
I usually slice up the mushrooms in an egg slicer, in order to get nice even slices.
This time, I decided to run them through the food processor and see how that worked, as it would be much faster.
It was faster, but the mushrooms didn’t all go in on their side so the slicers were cut at all angles. That meant that I got a mixture of large pieces, small pieces and, well, itty-bitty pieces.
For the freeze-drying, it really doesn’t matter because I usually crumble the dried mushrooms when I use them.
This time, I decided to run them through the food processor and see how that worked, as it would be much faster.
It was faster, but the mushrooms didn’t all go in on their side so the slicers were cut at all angles. That meant that I got a mixture of large pieces, small pieces and, well, itty-bitty pieces.
For the freeze-drying, it really doesn’t matter because I usually crumble the dried mushrooms when I use them.
Slicing results
The results of the mushroom processing gave me:
- Slices (mixed sizes) for freeze drying - 4 trays (1 full load)
- 4 cups of tiny pieces
- Some un-sliced ones that I put in a bag in the fridge
With the tiny pieces, I decided to try making some mushroom soup from scratch.
Cream of mushroom soup recipe
- Sauté a chopped onion in butter til soft (I usually opt for lard, but I wanted to give this the best chance of being rich and yummy)
- Add in the mushroom pieces (I had 4 cups)
- Add broth (I used a 3/4 quart jar of chicken stock)
- Season with garlic powder (1/4 tsp or to taste) and onion powder (same) < I ground up some freeze-dried onions [note: I probably added a teaspoon or more of each, because that’s how I like it]
- Whisk together 1 cup milk or cream (I had leftover half-and-half creamer) with 1/4 c flour [i added all of the cream I had left .. maybe 2 cups in total)
- Slowly mix the cream into the soup mixture, stirring constantly till mixed and then thickened
- Season with salt and pepper (I added about a tsp or more of pepper)
- Optional: use an immersion blender to blend up the onions and mushrooms to a fine consistency
This was so good. It was smooth and creamy; it had a little kick from the pepper; and it was mushroomy
Rick said that it was the best mushroom soup that he had ever eaten. That’s a win!
I will be repeating this process again, once the mushrooms in the fridge are gone.
I use the freeze-dried mushrooms in everything - stews, gravies, sauces, salads, and on pizzas.
And, now, I will be making mushroom soup every time I order more fresh mushrooms.
How do you use mushrooms?
- Debbie
a simpler life
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