French Mushroom Soup

Well we made it back alive from our across the world adventure and boy was it a blast!  I don't even know where to start, perhaps I'll just do one story per post.  Let's start in Iceland (the beginning of our trip) this is where we went to the restaurant Dill and it was unbelievably amazing food.  We had 7 courses with wine pairings, as to not overwhelm you with pictures here are 3 courses we had: salted cod with parsnip, apple, and fried cod cream; and cabbage with roe and lamb sausage; tomato variations with buttermilk and yarrow (pictured below).  The atmosphere was wonderful with some folky music in the background and a calm and soothing feel in the air.  The staff were all very nice and professional as well.  Going to this restaurant was definitely one of the major highlights of our trip, it was such a romantic night and Michael actually loved the fish!  As I have mentioned before he is not a very adventurous eater so I am very happy he liked all the things he ate.  The other courses we ate (not pictured) were: carrot with smoked mayo and sol; kale with sour cream, fried onions and cheese; black radish with cream cheese and millet; beet root liver and roasted yeast; dried catfish burnt butter dill; reindeer tartar; sourdough and lamb fat butter; arctic char with butter and birch, mushrooms and fresh cheese; braised beef cheeks with wild mushrooms, new potato, and arctic thyme; burnt cake with currants and whey; and blueberry and cream, juniper and skyr.  I felt so spoiled!  Once we got back to Portland (1 week ago today) it felt like fall so I immediately wanted to make a soup.  I adapted this recipe and pretended like we were still in France.  Enjoy!

Serves 5

The Ingredients
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 cup butter, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock
2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley leaves, plus more for garnish
Pinch of dried thyme
1 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms, I used shiitake, cremini, and portobello, trimmed and thinly sliced
Coarse salt
Juice of 1/4 lemon
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
Plain whole yogurt (dollop as a garnish, optional)


The Process
1.  Cook onions in 4 tablespoons butter in a large stockpot over medium heat until soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook over low heat for 4 minutes without browning. Add the stock, blending it completely with the flour. Add the parsley and thyme, and simmer for 20 minutes.

2.  In a large skillet, heat remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the cremini and portobello mushrooms and season with salt. Cook until softened, and then add the shiitake mushrooms. Season with salt and lemon juice and cook until mushrooms are deep golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

3.  Reheat stock mixture to a simmer. Whisk the egg yolks and cream until blended. While whisking, slowly add a cupful of the hot soup into the cream mixture and add back to the soup and heat to just below a simmer (if the soup simmers, the yolks will curdle). Add the cooked mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Serve garnished with parsley and plain yogurt.