Last night the house republicans passed their country-torching reconciliation bill. It’s astonishingly bad. Bad for almost everyone except the very rich and not only that, it’s beyond fiscally irresponsible. Today is 5/23/25.
“Fiscally irresponsible” should apply to unfair tax laws that would require an opposing party to tweak the regs later for a course correction and not to a bill that shoves the American economy off a cliff. We’re talking generational damage.
Also: the bill is morally repugnant. They do not care, the GOP, who they kill or how many they kill. They do not care.
So I made soup. And I offer you the recipe. It’s important to nourish ourselves and our loved ones.
Mushroom Bisque
This yummy soup is based on a recipe devised by personal chef Elizabeth Germain’s uncle, Arthur Grasso. Grasso ran a restaurant and wrote a cookbook called, The Tulip Tree Cook Book. Please note that just because a recipe is easy to prepare doesn’t mean it won’t produce an off-the-charts delicious dish.
Because this recipe uses one pot and an immersion blender, prep is streamlined. Rough chopping the veggies allows speed and gives you time to make croutons, an especially nice touch with this creamy soup.
Today’s variation is below. Note that this recipe is forgiving. For instance, today I omitted celery and parsley and it was just fine.
Ingredients
Olive oil to coat the pan and two tablespoons butter.
One big onion, rough chopped
Four cups or so or rough chopped mushrooms, stems included
A fist-sized potato chopped into cubes (no need to peel if using Yukon Golds)
One carrot, chopped (no need to peel)
Chicken stock
Dashes of nutmeg and cayenne
Salt and pepper
A splash of heavy cream in the serving bowl (not necessary) (3 tablespoons?)
Steps
In a mix of olive oil and butter, sauté the onions a little before adding the mushrooms and then the carrots and potatoes. Depending on how much liquid the mushrooms release, you might need to add a little more oil. You want the onions and mushrooms cooked down and covered with the fats before adding any liquid. Add salt and pepper, cayenne, nutmeg.
Pour in your chicken stock. Homemade is best but honestly boxed or bouillon (or a combo) is just fine. Today I used 3/4 of a box of organic stock and 1 and 1/2 cups water with a tablespoon of jarred chicken bouillon.
Also, I threw in the two cloves of garlic and the sprig of rosemary from the crouton-making (see below).
Cook until potatoes and carrots are soft. If you added an herbal sprig, be sure to remove before the final step.
Blend. Adjust for salt and pepper. Always needs more salt in my estimation.
Puddle a little heavy cream in a bowl and add three ladles of soup. Stir. Add croutons. Go to Heaven.
Note: even without heavy cream, the soup is creamy and delicious. Also, sometimes, I add a dollop of cream fraiche at the end instead of cream.
Croutons
I toast sourdough cubes in the oven (crusts removed) and then brown them in an iron skillet with olive oil, herbs (here fresh rosemary), and two cloves of garlic. Stir. Add salt and pepper.
Save the crusts to make homemade bread crumbs at another time.
Note: As Grasso directs, I do sometimes sauté mushroom caps and dice them to add at the end. It adds a nice texture. Not necessary though, especially if you really want to keep it easy.
Today I forgot the fresh parsley. It’s always a nice addition.
Dee~ The old love-hate…
I love that you cook so much and are so creative in doing so.
I don’t care for mushrooms, but love your bowl.
*Story: Once in my big commuting days, I had to get off the freeway in a small town on the way home to get gas…the needle was almost as low as it could go. I got off for the gas station I knew, but there were road closures…everywhere. I couldn’t get to that station, nor find another one close by. I couldn’t get off the road I was on! I headed towards the Marina, thinking of course there will be little shops and probably a gas station there. There wasn’t. It got later, darker…my gas gauge lower. I frantically called J. since he had once lived in that area. As I tried desperately to explain where in the middle of farmland I was…I passed a large barn building, the entire roof had the giant lettering of MUSHROOMS. I practically screamed into the phone “I’m by the mushroom farm!!!” It did not orientate him any better, but moments later I took a gamble, hung a left turn and ended up on a road I knew where the 76 station was just waiting for me. Phew.
I hate the times we are in and would stick my head in a pot of mushroom soup if it would help.
I love garlic and the scent of rosemary (as recently mentioned a lot! haha)
*Story: As kids, my mom made a meatloaf that had rosemary in it. When my sister and I would get a bite of it that crunched between our young teeth, we’d wail that there were ‘bones’ in the meat.
So, there you have it, my own ‘offering’ of a sort (silly stories) for these crazy awful times.
Love to you.
That driving story was so tense. Gawd! Thanks for sharing. And the “bones in the meatloaf” made me smile. BTW, If you like black bean soup I posted my version of that a while back. Similarly easy.
Dee, you have the ability to sense when we need comfort and this soup provides it. Soups that can be improvised upon. are my kind of cooking.
For a soup of a different sort: In the “soup”” that makes up my husband’s family, we are the only Democrats. One nephew and his wife were, she still is but he died several years ago. Possibly some of the family in Minnesota are but we do not keep close ties. All in southern CA belong to the red tribe SO, it is with deep satisfaction that I learned today, that my great nephew, the son of my southern CA nephew, has just graduated from UC Berkeley with a Masters degree in Public Welfare. He moved up to San Francisco to attend the University of San Francisco when he graduated from high school, much to his parent’s dismay as his Dad is a USC graduate. Besides attending college, he performed and still performs in a band, playing guitar, mandolin and providing lead vocals. He has worked in local soup kitchens and worked with teams helping the homeless. We need fine young people such as Tom and so my soul is nourished to see that he is an outstanding, ingredient to our family soup!
I’m inspired by the education and dedication of this relative of yours. And you’re so right, we need altruistic young people more than ever (or at least civic-minded youth willing to GODDAMNED VOTE!)
Marti~ Yes! How grand! Slurp that spoonful of family soup deep into your bones, as it is so needed.
Dee~ It really was that tense! I have never let my gas get that low again, as you can well imagine!
(((hugs)))
as I read the original recipe the 1/4 lb of butter raised my eyebrows a bit … and a touch of cream wouldn’t hurt, I thought … I quite like your variation with carrot instead of celery … and it sounds like you opted out of 30-40 minutes of cooktime … for sure I’ll go with your methodology, but I’ll pass on the garlic and go with the thyme that’s growing outside my back door
last, but far from least, thank you for the toast and then pan saute croutons technique … pure genius!
I like splitting the fats between olive oil and butter but if you skipped the butter altogether, I’m not sure you’d notice. I usually make it without garlic, by the way.
Yes, I’m feeling pretty defeated today. Also have a bag of Shitakes in the fridge that we harvested near our cabin – started with log plugs many years ago and produced a lot a couple of weeks ago. They are drying up in a bag, I hope we have not lost them to mold and can reconstitute them for this recipe. Thank you!