Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

This soup throws Campbell's out of the water! No gluey textured, artificial tasting, canned mushroom soup here- this is the real deal- smooth, creamy, satisfying and FRESH! I know dairy soups get a bad rap with the menfolk but this has been a hit with even the most testosterone laden of them (you know who you are!). Serve it with fresh garlicky pita chips (recipe will be in the next blog) and it is practically a meal-just add a salad! Of course, you can always feel free to de-gourmet it by just using plain button mushrooms and it will still taste great but in case you want to go the distance, Rami Levi in the Gush sells a great assortment of wild mushrooms that are grown locally.

For the soup:
3-4 cups of chopped assorted mushrooms - ( chop them VERY finely in the food processor- this will save you the need to make your pareve hand blender dairy)
1 large onion chopped finely
4-5 tablespoons of white wine (optional, but mushrooms and wine go really well together and it really enhances the soup)
2 tablespoons of flour
2 1/2 cups of milk (whole is tastier, but you can use 1% to lighten it up)
6 cups of water
3-4 Tablespoons pareve chicken soup mix (preferably without the MSG) or vegetable stock
1 cup of cooking cream (in Israel it is the 15%, in America you can use light cream)
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion in a soup pot until soft. Add the mushrooms and some salt and pepper to taste and cook until most of the water is absorbed. Add the wine and let it cook for a couple of minutes then add the flour and  stir well. Slowly pour in one cup of milk while mixing well so you don't get lumps of flour and then add the rest of the milk, the water and the soup mix and some more salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and quickly lower it and let it simmer for a half an hour. Add the cream and simmer for another 15 minutes and it's ready as quickly as that!

Doesn't a sprig of parsley just make EVERYTHING look so much better?
By the way, I was fired as photographer after this shot.