Creamy Mushroom Soup

A stay at a Harvest Host location is always enjoyable. We found Sharonview Farms on our way from Milledgeville GA to Mebane NC. Teri and Nasi operate this mushroom farm and welcome RVers to come and learn about their business.

The majority of their farm is made up of hard wood trees. NC forest management services dictates they must remove crowded and non-value trees. When this is done, they are left with small trunks and larger branches that the forest service does not need. They hated to see this wood go unused, so they attended an agriculture class to learn about some ways to use this “waste”. Growing mushrooms is the path they decided to take.

They now have an acre of their farm dedicated to growing Shitake mushrooms. We had the opportunity to walk thru the logs and pick some mushrooms. At the end of our visit we left with one pound of fresh mushrooms and a pound of dried mushrooms.

Now I am not a fan of mushrooms. I think they taste like dirt and the texture is appalling. That being said, I do like Hot & Sour soup and do not mind the Shitake mushrooms in it. They are chopped small but the texture isn’t awful. What the heck, let’s give it a try. I google some different recipes for Cream of Mushroom Soup and took a little of this and a little of that and came up with this. Adding a little garlic bread on the side, it was actually quite delicious. I ate two bowls!

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
1onions diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 pounds fresh shitake mushrooms sliced
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 cup dry red wine
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups low sodium chicken broth or stock
1-2 teaspoons salt to taste
1/2-1 teaspoons black cracked pepper to taste
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup fat-free half and half

Directions

Heat butter in Instant Pot on Sauté setting. Sauté onion for 2 to 3 minutes until softened. Cook garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add mushrooms and basil, cook for 5 minutes. Pour in wine and allow to cook for 3 minutes.

Add flour to mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and beef bouillon cubes.

Use Soup setting and put valve in seal position. Set for 20 minutes. When finished quick release.

Cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, while occasionally stirring, until thickened.

Add half and half and allow to simmer, but not boil, for another 10 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread.