My wife has a nice mushroom and wild rice soup recipe (will add in next post).

We use a LOT of mushrooms for this soup. The way we are able to justify this, is, if we find mushrooms on sale at the grocery store, they go into the basket and straight into the freezer when we get home.

We made this at the end of last winter, and it was way, way better then every time before. One of the mushrooms broke down during the cooking process, and the soup turned out way, way creamier and smoother than ever before. Today, doing the recipe with white buttons, shiitake, cremini and some portabella, and not getting the same reaction.

Any hints from the pros on here as to what kind of mushrooms might be the most prone to break down into almost a broth / paste?

Mushrooms I have used before (besides those listed above, some dried, most fresh)

Oyster, Enoki, king oyster, porcini, maitake, morel, black trumpet

Any thoughts on which mushrooms to look out for, or any methods to get some of the mushrooms to break down, would be appreciated.

I would think that a morel would be a good candidate. I like to use it with veal stock, but I am always careful not to overcook so that it doesn't break down.

Recipe, as promised

Ingredients:

2 cups of chicken or beef broth ( I usually use beef broth if I have a lot of portobellos, otherwise chicken)
Chicken. I usually use 4 to 5 good sized thighs, but more or less is fine
A whole bunch of mushrooms, enough to fill my 6 quart crock pot to the brim
one medium onion
4 to 5 stalks of celery
4 to 6 cloves of garlic
1 anchovy filet
1 cup wild rice
tarragon
marjoram
thyme (fresh if possible)
bay leaves
S&P to taste

Philosophy: This recipe is different in that we are going to use the water in the mushrooms for the base of our soup. That means we will have more mushrooms than normal, and it will have a bit of a stronger mushroom flavor, IMO. Most recipes call for sauteed mushrooms. We (wife and I) don't do that. Cooking everything in the crockpot gives a very different flavor profile that we kind of like. Besides, cooking with vegetable liquid instead of browning vegetables and then adding stock is kind of our thing.

We have done the recipe where you cook everything first, saute the mushrooms, onions, garlic before they go in the pot, and then just add a lot more chicken stock / water. Different flavor profile.

Directions:

Night before:
1) Get the mushrooms going. Slice them up into bitesized chunks. Pour your broth into the crock pot. Fill up your crock pot with mushrooms. Cook on low. I usually wind up cooking the mushrooms for 20+ hours.
2) Get your ingredients prepped for AM session. Slice onion, chop celery, peel and slice garlic, pour spices into a bowl.

Serve day, AM:
1) Drop in rice, onion, celery, fresh garlic, spices, and more mushrooms, if you want to, now that you have some more room. Go to work / school.

Serve day, PM:
1) roast your chicken in the oven. Don't overcook. Reserve the bones for stock for next time .
2) Add chicken to soup. Serve immediately. A little dollop of sour cream in the bowl for those in the house that can have lactose. Fresh thyme garnish if you got it.

Let me know if any of you cook this and enjoy it! Feel free to critique / add comments / questions.

Just toss a big handful into a blender with the stock, pulse a few times, add another handful and then puree it.

Also, if Lactose is an issue, you can always finish it off with a vegan Cashew cream. One of those little things I've discovered since trying to eat more plant-based is that Cashew cream does really well in soups. I use it in Chowders, Tomato-Basil, and Creamy Vegetable soups. I actually prefer it to heavy cream in some ways.

A bit of Miso paste would also add some additional depth. I'd start with a Tablespoon for that recipe

Thanks Fido.

I am more likely to try the cashew paste than puree mushrooms.

Besides soups, what else do you use Miso paste for?

BusterAg said:

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Thanks Fido.

I am more likely to try the cashew paste than puree mushrooms.

Besides soups, what else do you use Miso paste for?

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Anything that I make with mushrooms will likely have a little miso in it. Stews, pate, etc. Lots of ways to use it in Asian cooking obviously, and I like it on broiled fish as well

Tumble Weed said:

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I would think that a morel would be a good candidate. I like to use it with veal stock, but I am always careful not to overcook so that it doesn't break down.

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I will look out for Morel mushrooms next time and give them a try. Will report back, but probably going to be a few months.

BusterAg said:

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Tumble Weed said:

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I would think that a morel would be a good candidate. I like to use it with veal stock, but I am always careful not to overcook so that it doesn't break down.

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I will look out for Morel mushrooms next time and give them a try. Will report back, but probably going to be a few months.

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I had a hard time finding some, so I bought them off Amazon.