Sunday's Soup

Panera Bread's Mushroom Bisque

If you like mushroom anything, you are going to love this soup! It smells incredible as it cooks and tastes even better. I cannot wait for tonight's dinner!!
I did make a few changes to the recipe.

I used a mushroom broth rather than the chicken and beef broth. The recipe also calls for sherry or white wine, I used cognac. I love the rich flavor of cognac especially in a mushroom soup. Other than those changes, I followed the recipe below. If you would like to reference the recipe from Panera's website, you can find it here, https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/recipes/mushroom-bisque.html

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter 1 cup chopped onions ½ cup chopped carrots ½ cup chopped celery 1 pound mixed wild mushrooms (such as baby bella, oyster, and shiitake), sliced ⅓ cup Arborio rice or other risotto rice 1 large sprig fresh thyme 1 bay leaf

½ cup dry sherry or white wine 3 to 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1 cup low-sodium beef broth 3 tablespoons tomato paste ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground black pepper ¾ cup half-and-half ½ Panera Bread Artisan French Baguette, sliced

Directions

Step 1.

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add three-quarters of the mushrooms and cook until they wilt, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the rice, thyme, and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the sherry or wine and cook until the liquid almost evaporates, 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of the chicken broth along with the beef broth, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Bring the broth to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer, stirring now and then, until the rice is tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Step 2.

Remove the thyme and bay leaf; then puree the soup in a blender or food processor (in batches if necessary) until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes per batch. Return the soup to the pan and stir in the half-and-half over low heat. Keep it warm, adding more chicken broth if necessary to thin out the soup.

Step 3.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in a small skillet. Add the remaining mushrooms and cook until wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Divide the soup among four bowls and garnish each with the sautéed mushrooms. Serve with the bread for dipping.

Once again, if you like mushrooms, don't wait, make this soup as soon as possible!!! Can you tell I REALLY like this soup?!!! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday :)