Cream of Anything Soup

Serves 4 to 6

Cream of Anything Soup is one of the easiest of soups to make. It can be practical and money saving, too. Do you have some vegetables lingering in the fridge that are too limp for sautéing or too bruised for salad? They are perfect for Cream of Anything Soup. Think cream soups are too rich and fatty? You actually don’t need any cream, other than perhaps an optional few drops at the end, to make velvet-smooth, silky soups. This technique works for butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and all sorts of root vegetables. Do you think soups are just for winter? How about chilled cream of asparagus in the spring or cream of corn or zucchini in the summer? The only difference in technique is that when you’re using vegetables like mushrooms and summer squash that exude liquid, you need to cook the vegetables a bit to reduce the moisture and concentrate the flavor before adding the stock.

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 pounds mixed fresh mushrooms (such as white button, cremini, shiitake, morel, and chanterelle), or other vegetable, sliced
• Bouquet garni: 5 sprigs thyme, 4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, 2 bay leaves (preferably fresh), and 10 whole black peppercorns, tied together in cheesecloth
• 4 cups homemade chicken stock or reduced-fat low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth, plus more if needed
• ¼ cup heavy cream (optional)
• Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat, then add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the vegetable—in this case, mushrooms—and the bouquet garni. Cook the mushrooms until they’re just tender and have given off some of their moisture, about 5 minutes. Add enough stock just to cover the vegetable pieces. If you think about standing in the deep end of the pool, add stock just up to the “shoulders” of the vegetable. And remember, you can always add more, but it’s not as easy to take out.

2 Bring to a boil, then decrease the heat to maintain a simmer. Simmer until the mushrooms are very soft, 30 minutes. The cooking time depends on the vegetable; mushrooms will take less time than butternut squash, for example.

3 Remove and discard the bouquet garni. Use an immersion blender (or a regular blender) to puree the soup. Leave the vegetables coarse for a more rustic soup, or puree until smooth for a more elegant soup. You can serve the soup plain or with a bit of heavy cream on the side. (It’s better to use heavy cream than milk, as milk will dilute the soup. And be cautious if you’re looking for lighter substitutes for the cream; yogurt may curdle.) Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately.