For the love of fungus: Creamy and delicious mushroom soup

I love me some fungus. Well, not just any fungus, of course. The kind that is heaped in baskets at your grocery store… mounds of brown or white caps or springy yellow tops, clusters of white tendrils or hills of fluffy golden folds. I’m talking about mushrooms, people.

Mushrooms are delicious. Meaty, earthy, fragrant — pick your appealing adjective. They’re the perfect vehicles for sopping up sauces or for adding rich texture to a dish. Some are hearty enough just to throw some flame on and tear into with your teeth. One of my favorite vehicles for mushrooms is mushroom soup. I love the way that the earthy goodness of mushrooms mingles with herb-tinged cream and butter. All the better to sop up with a thick piece of crusty bread, and lick off the back of your spoon. (My stomach is grumbling at the thought.)

I’m quite convincing aren’t I? Well, it turns out that I am. According to my husband’s backgrounder, I have converted him to fungus-lover. It’s true: He used to wrinkle his nose at mushrooms and push them onto my plate. (No complaints from me on that one.) Now, his spoon is battling mine for the dregs of mushroom soup.

I guess I can’t take full credit for the delicious soup we’re offering today, though. Below my husband confesses that I inadvertantly threw down the mushroom soup gauntlet: I had always held that a mushroom soup we had in Brussels was the best I’d ever had… until recently, when I said Daniel Boulud’s might be better. Apparently my swooning over the mushroom soups of two French-speaking chefs was just too much for him. He secretly determined to make a better mushroom soup in his own kitchen — thus sealing my love forever.

Well folks, you can’t buy my love with mushroom soup (I only accept blueberry currency). But if you could — this would be the soup that would win my undying affection. It’s rich, it’s creamy, it’s delicious — and most important, it’s mushroomy. Pick up your spoons and man your bread crusts… It’s mushroom soup time.

Click here to download the recipe for this Mushroom Soup.

On golden pond of butternut squash soup

I’m a big fan of soup. And I get especially excited for those thick, creamy blended soups that you see at fancy restaurants. The kind where a lot of cream and a hand blender have been involved. That’s precisely the kind my husband recently made.

His butternut squash soup was just the sort of thing that I’d order in a restaurant… but better. Why? I’d venture to say it was tastier, fresher and let’s face it: free of charge. The soup was thick and rich, with that beautiful golden hue from roasted butternut squash. Of course, that couldn’t be the end of its appeal; pureed vegetables make baby food, not restaurant fare. So he added a dollop of creme fresh, a splash of truffle oil and a sprinkling of fresh chopped chives. As Ace Ventura might say: B-E-A-utiful.

Yes, it’s getting pretty gourmet in here, folks. I just hope my husband doesn’t institute a dress code. I’m fond of dining in my pajamas.

Did you say, celery root soup?

Who doesn’t like a hearty soup on a cold, fall evening? Pair it with grilled cheese, and you have yourself a tasty and cozy meal in no time.

I really liked this soup, despite having basically no idea what I was eating. If asked, I would have said, “Possibly, baked potato soup.” (Which goes to show I’ll put a fork or spoon in pretty much anything you plop down in front of me, even with no knowledge of ingredients.) Actually, the soup was much more exotic than mere potato stew; those little chunks of starch-like vegetable weren’t spuds, they were celery root. I was probably fooled by their texture (and the delicious hunks of bacon swimming in my bowl).

Celery root soup… baked potato soup… whatever it was, it was good. Enjoy it with a grilled cheese sandwich. I did!