Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe

One of my favorite soups is delicious cream of mushroom soup.  To me nothing says comfort better, especially on a cold wintry night, then a hot, creamy deliciously made crea, of mushroom soup.  Below is my recipe for a delicious cream of mushroom soup that is made from mushrooms, onions, celery, chicken stock, thyme, garlic powder, black pepper and some half and half so its nice and creamy.  

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of  butter
1 cup of chopped onions
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
18 ounces of Mushrooms (white mushrooms and oyster mushrooms)
2 teaspoons of thyme
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
6 cups of chicken stock
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of half and half

Instructions:

You will want to begin by melting your butter in a large Dutch Oven.  Once the butter has melted you will want to sauté your onions and celery on a medium heat until soft.  Once they are soft add in your Mushrooms, garlic, Thyme, and pepper and sauté for an additional  7 minutes until the mushrooms start to brown and give off their liquid.  At this point you should add in your chicken stock and bring it to a boil over a medium high heat.  Once your soup has begun boiling you need to lower the temperature and bring it to a simmer.  Let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes you should remove the soup from the heat and puree the soup in a food processor.  You will want to do this in batches.   Once this is done you will want to make a roux to thicken the soup so put the 3 Tbsp of butter in the now empty Dutch oven and melt it.  Once the butter has melted add the flour to it and whisk until it turns slightly brown.  You will have to continuously whisk while this is happening.  Once it has turned a light brown you will need to slowly return the soup to the Dutch oven and stir it into the roux.  Put your Dutch oven back on the burner on a medium high heat and bring the soup to a boil.  Once it begins to boil reduce the heat and bring the soup to a simmer and let simmer for about 5 to 7 minutes until the soup thickens.  When it has thickened you should add in the half and half to the soup and allow the soup to simmer for about another 5 minutes.  Now taste your soup and see if you need to adjust the seasoning.