Cream of Shiitake Mushroom Soup

Description

This rich, earthy soup has but 100 calories per serving if made with non-fat milk.

Ingredients

• 1 quart milk, whole, low-fat or skim
• 1 small onion, peeled and stuck with 2 cloves
• 6 whole peppercorns (or more)
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 tbsp rice flour (or barley or oat flour)
• 4 tbsp cold milk (about)
• 8 oz shiitake mushrooms

Bouquet garni

• 6 fresh parsley stems
• ½ tsp dried leaf thyme
• ½ bay leaf

Optional

• 6 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 tbsp Madeira
• reserved mushroom slices

Directions

1. Tie the herbs for the Bouquet garni together in a cheesecloth
2. Place the milk, onion, peppercorns, salt and bouquet garni in a saucepan and bring slowly to a boil.
3. Form a smooth paste of the rice flour and the cold milk. Put into the just-boiling milk and stir briskly until there are no lumps.
4. Simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, cut off the tough ends of the mushroom stems. Reserve a few mushroom slices for garnish and chop the remaining mushrooms coarsely, then place in a food processor with a steel blade and chop as finely as possible.
6. Strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve back into the saucepan; add the chopped mushrooms and continue simmering 5 minutes.
7. Add the cream and Madeira, if you wish, and serve in hot bowls, garnished with a slice of mushroom