Mushroom Soup from Ukraine

All Eastern European and Russian Countries have mushroom dishes in their list of favorite foods. Collecting wild mushrooms during the season is a common tradition in many families there.

When I was a child one or two adults went with us bunch of kids into the forest near by and we were told what to look for when we wanted to pick some mushrooms. My mother was very careful because she had not much knowledge of wild mushrooms. In the same house I grew up lived a family of biologists.  They checked our loot always very careful and showed us more things to look for in he right mushrooms. But since that short period of time, I never went out to pick some mushrooms. I prefer the ones you can buy in a store.

I wanted something vegetarian today and I found a mushroom soup from Ukraine on Pinterest. They use fresh porcini mushrooms. No way I can get any of them here this time of year. But I have a tin of dried ones. This 1 pound tin is a very old one, it had coffee in when I bought it. But since this time I only store dried porcini mushrooms in it. The smell is formidable when you open the lid of the tin. It is so well closed that you can store the mushrooms in it for a very long time without them getting spoiled.
 I took about 20 g out and soaked them over night in a cup of water. I used the water for the soup later.

recipe:
600 g mushrooms like brown button, king oyster and shimeji mushrooms, 20 g dried porcinis
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup soaking mushroom water
1 cup half and half  or milk and cream mixed
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of thyme
200 g potatoes
2 carrots
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp parsley

Clean the veggies and cut them roughly.
Set aside a quarter of the brown button and half of the shimeji mushrooms for later.
Cut up the rest.
In a large pot heat up 2 tbsp of oil and toss in onion and garlic first, 2 min later potatoes and carrot.

Stir well and let it saute a little. Chuck in the mushrooms and then add the veg stock and porcini water. Season and put thyme and bay leaf in.
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat and cover and cook for 15 -20 min.
Use a stick blender and make a semi fine soup, add the half and half and stir. Check for seasoning.
In a pan in olive oil brown the mushrooms for topping. Chop the parsley.