Hungarian Mushroom Soup (with beef)

1/2# very lean stew meat - cut small
4T butter
1/2c red wine - or -
2-4T good dark Balsamic vinegar
1/2 lg. onion - chopped
1 lg. shallot - sliced
4 lg. cloves garlic - minced
12-16oz. mushrooms - sliced
1t± ground red and black pepper
3T flour
6c water
3T Better Than Bullion beef soup base
1c half and half or heavy cream

I can't believe it's a 91° day and I'm in the kitchen - making - a hearty winter soup!  I had a cup of Hungarian Mushroom Soup at a restaurant yesterday and loved it.  So before I forgot all the flavors, I had to try duplicating it - regardless of the weather.  I improvised a lot, since the waitress only told me "mushrooms, beef stock, wine and cream."  On the way home we stopped at a local meat market and their beef stew meat was so beautiful, so in the pot with a little of that too!  Well. . .I aced it!  This is one soup I'll make again, with or without the beef.  

Brown the stew meat in butter.  Add next 5 ingredients and the pepper.  Saute' on high heat until mushrooms are cooked and everything's nicely browned.  Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, covered, for another 10 minutes, adding a little of the water if needed.  Sprinkle the flour over this mixture and stir well.  Pour in the remainder of the water and the soup base.

Stir and bring to a low-medium boil for about 5 minutes then remove from the heat.  Let stand a while or chill a couple hours to blend the flavors.  Just before serving, stir in the cream and warm to just below the simmer point.  Serve with croutons or crusty buttered bread and a big salad. . .Lin

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