Slow Cooker Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

24 oz. Cremini Mushrooms

4 cloves of Garlic

2 Bay Leaves

2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

2 tablespoons fresh Parsley

1 cup Vegetable Broth

½ tablespoon dried Basil

¼ tablespoon dried Thyme (Oregano in a pinch)

¼ cup of Heavy Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Fire up the audio system and roll up your sleeves, this is the longest part of the whole process: Peel the mushrooms.

Now I realize the jury is still out on this one but I have always been told to never let mushrooms get wet or they will quickly dissolve into a slobbery mess & their flavor will dilute so it's better to peel them than to wash then. The good news is Cremini's are really easy to peel. Start by popping off the stalk and peel back the outer layer. Then use a dry paper towel to take off any remaining dust/dirt. If it's particularly messy wet the paper towel or just take a sharp knife to cut off the mess.

Next, everything but the heavy cream goes into the slow cooker

Cook on low for about 3 ½ hours

This point is a good opportunity to adjust the seasoning and the texture.

After a quick taste test add salt/pepper as necessary

Add the heavy cream and let it cook out for another ½ hour

If the soup needs to be thickened you can use flour or cornflower to make an adjustment

Thicken (if necessary)

In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon flour + 3 tablespoons soup mixture

Whisk with a fork, once it's smooth add back into the slow cooker and let it continue cooking for 20 minutes (or until the flour is cooked out)

Retrospectives

10/26/2020

Loved the flavor but hated that the butter just floats around ignoring everything else :(

Couple of mistakes this time round. Turns out in a slurry (thinkener) corn starch thickens twice as much as flour and needs less time to cook out so that would have been a better tactic. It might have solved the thickness issue but it wouldn't have solved the butter problem so next time I'll try replacing the butter with a roux. A darker roux might be nice with these flavors but that thickens less so I should probably experiment a bit.

Since this is in the slow cooker with low heat I doubt a Beurre manié would solve this problem but I might try it anyway