Cooking from Scratch: Cream of Mushroom Soup

Quite a few of the casserole recipes I use call for cream of mushroom soup.  Sometimes I'll use the Heart Healthy cream of mushroom soup (low salt) but other times I'll use homemade.  The homemade recipe isn't low-fat but it's much healthier than anything from a can.  This particular recipe came from Simply Recipes.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

(4 Servings)

Ingredients:

1 pound regular white mushrooms, cleaned, quartered or sliced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp minced shallots

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbsp water

Minced parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. In a food processor, coarsely chop mushrooms and lemon juice.

2. Melt butter in (4-5 quart) sauce pan and lightly sauté shallots on medium heat. Add mushrooms, thyme and bay leaf, sauté over moderate heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the liquid that is released from the mushrooms disappears.

3. Add salt, pepper, cream and chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Add cornstarch and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Correct seasoning and add more lemon juice to taste.