Homemade Mushroom Soup

Everybody loves a bargain, especially me - it's how I justify spending money sometimes both to myself and The Hubs "but it was cheap and I saved a fortune". Sometimes I'm fooling myself but yesterday I struck a real deal - punnets of white mushrooms for an unbelievable 29c (about 22p) each.  The weather may be dry but it's still unseasonally cold so I reckoned the best way to use the mushrooms was by making a giant pot of soup.  All that chopping of 'shrooms can take quite a bit of time so I cheated.  I wiped them, trimmed the stems and threw them into my food processor.  A few pulses and the shiny sharp blade reduced them to teeny tiny pieces in seconds.

Homemade Mushroom Soup

6 Shallots, peeled & finely chopped
6 Spring Onions, finely chopped
25g Butter
750g Mushrooms (3 punnets), chopped very finely
Salt & Pepper
25g Plain Flour
500ml Chicken Stock
500ml Milk (I used low fat)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan on a very low heat.  Add the shallots and spring onions, stir and cover.  Cook for about 10 minutes until they're completely soft and cooked through without colouring.

Add the chopped mushrooms and cook on a high heat for about 5 minutes to cook out some of the liquid.  Reduce the heat to low, sprinkle the flour into the mushroom mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the chicken stock and milk together in a separate saucepan and bring to the boil.  Turn off the heat and add the liquid gradually to the mushroom mixture, stirring constantly.  Once you've added all the liquid, bring the soup to the boil.  Taste your soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary.  Serve immediately.

This soup freezes brilliantly so you can stock up your freezer while the mushrooms are so cheap.