Mushroom Potato Soup

I was hungry for my Zuppa Toscana and then found out I didn't have any sausage.   You just can't have Zuppa Toscana without sausage.  You can maybe pull off some zuppa, but it just won't be Toscana. 

So I improvised.

And made some really terrific Mushroom Potato Soup instead.   I'm warning you ahead of time that this is not a fast soup.   It takes time.   Time and butter.  Don't skimp on either.   The trick here is to let the onion and mushroom actually brown in the pans. 

Yes, pans.    It'll be worth it.

Robin's Mushroom Potato Soup
www.rurification.com

1 lb mushrooms, cut in half and then sliced up.
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 more tablespoons butter
1 tsp salt
5 small potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cups of broth [I used chicken]
2 chicken bouillon cubes or the equivalent
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cream [optional]

Brown the mushrooms with 2 T butter and 1/2 tsp of the salt on medium heat in a large skillet.   In a soup pot, brown the onions on medium heat in the rest of the butter and the salt.   When the onions are brown, add the broth and the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until fork tender.  When the mushrooms are brown, add the flour and 1 cup of the stock out of the potato pot. Stir around to make a gravy.  Add the mushrooms to the rest of the soup.   Stir well and simmer until it thickens a bit.   Optional:  If you want a creamy potato version, add 1/2 cup cream. 

This is some great soup! 

[Sorry about the photo quality.  It's December.  It's dark.] 

Little White Mushroom

I saw this in the grass the other day.   It was charming so I snapped a pic.

Mushrooms grow all over, here.   They like the damp.  We know a few edible varieties and just stay away from the rest.  

I went to a mushroom ID site rogersmushrooms.com to find out what this one is. I think it's  Leucoagaricus leucothites.

It looks similar to an amanita, which is deadly, so we won't be messing around with these any time soon.  David Fisher's American Mushroom site has some great descriptions of the two. 

Mushroom Lace

I was enchanted by the backs of these mushrooms in the winter woods.    A little winter lace on a cold, cold day.

[I was so enchanted that I forgot to look at the fronts to identify them.] 

Chicken of the Woods

This tree is on the road where we take our daily walk and one day a few weeks ago it sprouted these beautiful mushrooms.

It looks like Chicken of the Woods, a highly desirable edible fungus.

It's really pretty, isn't it?

Here's a better look at the tops.

And here's a better look at the bottoms. 

Pretty much the entire tree was full of them, mostly on the shadiest side of the tree and down at the bottom, which was situated in a low spot and heavily shaded with other growth.   

This is easily a 15 foot stretch of trunk covered with them.

Unfortunately, there was a large quantity of poison ivy growing around there, too, so we let it be.    I've heard these are really tasty and someday I'll find some without the poison ivy and I'll get to try them.

January Mushrooms

We had the Big Snow.

Then it got warm and rained and it all melted.

Then it was 60 degrees and rained a lot more, hard, all in one evening.   We had a big flood during the night.

When we went out to check the damage the next morning, we discovered this on a willow stump next to our creek.    The temps were back down in the 30s by then, and it was gray and cloudy.  This thing glowed!

I think it's a fungus called Chicken of the Woods.  [Here's more on it.] It's supposed to be choice and delicious.   We're not very brave with our local fungus - morels and chanterelles are all we'll eat because they're all I can reliably identify.   I've heard of this one, and if I can get some trustworthy verification, I'll try it. 

It sure is pretty.