Mushroom soup with garlicky bread

This mushroom soup is delicious. My husband keeps asking me to prepare it again. It is a cream that seems to gather all mushrooms perfum and taste to free it all inside your mouth. Really tasty.

I found this mushroom soup recipe on Half Baked Harvest blog, and it is pretty simple to prepare. I have used less fat as I usually do when I cook English or American recipes, but I assure you taste didn’t lower at all.

It is important to notice that bread is an important ingredient in this recipe. I used homemade bread (you can use this easy bread recipe), but if you can’t do it yourself, buy a good quality bread.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 shallot minced
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 pounds mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp fresh sage thinly cut
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried one)
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream
• 4 Tbsp grated Parmesan
• for garlicky bread:
• extra virgin olive oil
• bread cut in cubes of about 1 in.
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• dried garlic powder
• salt

1. Clean mushrooms and slice them.
2. Put oil in a capacious pan and turn on medium gas. When it begins to fry, add shallot and minced garlic. Cook for 2/3 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms and salt and pepper. Let them cook for some minutes until golden (3/5 min) and then, stirring occasionally, until they caramelize (3/5 min more).
4. Lower the gas and add butter, sage and thyme. Let cook some more minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add balsamic vinegar.
6. Spoon out a handful of the mushrooms for topping, if desired.
7. Add broth and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
8. Using a blender, reduce to cream 3/4 of the soup. Put it back to th pan with the other 1/4, add cream and cheese and let simmer.
9. In the meanwhile prepare bread. Turn on the oven 428°C / 220°C. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Pour bread and mix it with oil, thyme, garlic, oregano and salt. Bake for about 15 minutes or until toasted.
10. Serve the mushroom cream adding mushrooms you set apart for decoration and bread cubes.
11. Buon appetito!