roasted mushroom soup

The only course I plated for the Fall Picnic was the soup, the rest of the meal was served buffet style. As a result, I didn’t get a decent photo of the soup. I’m going to try and make up for it with quite a few in-process cooking pictures and a bunch of decor photos.

The first thing I do when I set about to create a theme for a party is to hunt and gather from around my house for decorating items. For this dinner party, I was thinking – of picnic baskets, blankets, thermoses, wicker, plaid, pumpkins, and squash.

I had two main areas to decorate, the buffet table and the dinner table. We’ll get to the buffet table in a later post, today we’ll focus on the dinner table. I started with a plaid throw as the tablecloth and plaid salad plates.

The centerpiece was a rustic stand with fresh pumpkins and squash above and below, a garland of fall leaves, a couple of candles, and my Bundt Pan Pumpkin from last year’s craft class.

Add in the setting sun…

… and it’s easy to have a pretty table!

Roasted Mushroom Soup

• 1 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps roughly chopped into large pieces
• 1   1/2 pounds cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and then mushrooms quartered
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup peeled and minced shallots
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 4 cups beef broth, divided
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the mushrooms on a nonstick roasting pan. Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss. Roast on the lowest shelf in the oven for 20 minutes.

Add the shallots, stir to combine, and continue to cook for 10 more minutes. Remove 1 ½ cups of the mushrooms, set aside.

Pour the wine into the pan and stir, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the roasting pan.

Add 1 cup of the beef broth and 1 cup of water. Return the pan to the oven and let cook for 20 more minutes.

Remove an additional 3/4 cup of the mushrooms from the roasting pan, place in a blender, and purée with 1/2 cup of the beef broth.

Place the remaining 2 ½ cups of beef broth and the thyme into a large pot.

Add the mushrooms and liquid from the roasting pan, the mushroom purée, cream, and lemon juice into the pot, and heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve hot, topped with the reserved 1 ½ cups of mushrooms.

Makes about 7 cups