Champignonsoep (Dutch Mushroom Soup)

I made some Champignonsoep for Fenna.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/3 cup celery, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound mushrooms, washed and slice (save 1 whole mushroom to 'carry' the bay leaf)
• pinch of chopped thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 4 parsley sprigs (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley + 1 tablespoon diced celery leaves)
• 1 bay leaf
• optional - 1/8 teaspoon powdered clove
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (I used whole milk ricotta)

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven, sauce the onions and celery for 5 minutes or so.
2. Add mushrooms and thyme, stir while mushrooms soften and release juices (about 5 minutes?)
3. When mushrooms have softened, remove and reserve 1/2 cup of them to use later for a garnish.
4. Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms, and stir so all mushrooms are coated and the flour dissolves.
5. Stir in a cup of broth until the sauce thickens. Stir in the rest of the broth in 1 cup increments.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
7. Stick the bay leaf in the whole mushroom, add to soup with parsley stems (or dried parsley) and cloves.
8. Simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Scoop out the whole mushroom and bay leaf. Throw away bay leaf, dice mushroom and return to soup.
10. Use an immersion blender to puree soup to a smooth consistency.
11. Stir in the heavy cream. (I mixed 1/2 cup of warm broth with ricotta, and stirred until milky with no lumps, then added to the soup.)
12. Serve warm, adding a few of the reserved mushrooms to each bowl.
       
       

Carole's Notes:

We liked this creamy soup! I hope Fenna will as well.
This makes about 4 servings - we had it with sourdough bread.

The recipe is lightly  adapted from https://www.thedutchtable.com/2012/11/champignonsoep.html