The mushroom soup that dreams were made of

[Boyle]

I pulled ideas from a few different recipes for this mushroom soup,
and I think I nailed it!

1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly sliced
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 package white button mushrooms, sliced
1 package portabella mushrooms, sliced
1 package shitake mushrooms
few tbsp olive oil, to cook veggies
3 cups beef stock
1 cup good, dry red wine
1 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup wild rice
Black truffle oil, drizzled on top to serve

I sautéed the carrot, onion & celery, adding the garlic after the
others softened, for about 8 minutes over medium heat, until
everything was cooked through, and the flavors combined. Don't worry
about perfectly dicing/slicing - you are going to puree everything at
the end, anyway.

To save myself from dirtying a second pan, I just pulled the veggies
out, and sautéed the mushrooms, 1 type at a time (because that is all
that fit in my soup pot at a time), though I think cooking them in a
large frying pan would have been much easier.

After all of the mushrooms cooked down, I deglazed the pan with a
great red wine (I used a Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon), added all
of my reserved, cooked veggies & mushrooms back in, added the beef
stock, the rice, and the thyme, gave it a good stir, and let it
lightly simmer for the next 40ish minutes while bitching to John about
work. Cook it long enough for the rice to finish (per package
instructions). You could probably use any rice - this is just to
thicken the soup a bit. I finished it with a little bit of salt and
pepper, to taste.

Since John had broken my immersion blender (which I also bitched about
in the 40ish minutes), I used my standard blender to puree the soup,
and then portioned it into mason jars to be frozen after cooling. John
and I ate some that did not fit into a mason jar, immediately,
drizzled with the truffle oil - and it was spectacular. I also
defrosted a jar the next day for lunch (partially due to impatience,
and partially due to curiosity, as I've never frozen mushrooms before)
- it reheated perfectly in the microwave. The truffle oil is key -
pick some up at your local grocery store. You use it so sparingly that
the cost is worth it (a little goes a long way).

Just a note - mushrooms cook down substantially, and the rice absorbs
a good bit of the cooking liquid, so this only makes about 5 cups of
soup. If you make this recipe for a party, you'll be serving it in
shot glasses, so either double up in a larger pot, or know that you
aren't making enough to last a week.

This soup would be great with traditional Tuscan bruschette - toasted
slices of good, country bread, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled
with salt.

Once you fall in love with your black truffle oil (which is going to
happen), try adding some to mashed potatoes (as an accent, not your
primary fat); or to some fresh pasta tossed with olive oil, fresh
cracked pepper and, if you are really lucky, some porcini; or drizzled
over ribbons of zucchini (use your vegetable peeler), with pignoli,
fresh cracked pepper, and fresh peels of a good pecorino romano
cheese.

YUM!