A bowl of hot soup is a welcome comfort on cold winter evenings. I make soup for dinner quite often  because it is easy to make, filling, and light enough for an evening meal. The mushroom soup recipe that I am sharing with you today is a basic recipe which can be changed easily with whatever vegetables you have on hand. For example, if you don’t have enough mushrooms, you could add a potato, two carrots, two sticks of celery and make a vegetable soup. Soup and toasted cheese sandwiches are made for each other. Try this recipe and let me know how it turns out. Stay warm!

Mushroom Soup
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 cups chopped button mushroom and stems
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup hot water
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Wipe the mushroom clean and slice into ¼ in thick pieces. You can use the stems as well.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium low heat. Add the shallots and sauté until transparent. It will take about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and cook until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and stir well so that the pieces are coated with butter. You can turn the heat up to medium high at this point. Stir once in a while until the mushrooms release their liquid. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pot and cook until all the water evaporates.

Add chicken stock or vegetable stock and the hot water. Cover and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the mushroom are fully cooked and tender. It will take about 20 minutes. Let the soup cool.

Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Put the puree back into the large pot and add the cream. Bring to simmer over low heat. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with croutons and little blobs of cream.