Wild Mushroo m Soup
2 cups dried porcini or shitake mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 chopped onion
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 cups fresh Champignon Mushroom,
5 cups beef stock (or five cups water and parve beef or chicken flavor bullion)
2 cup half and half (non-dairy creamer)
fresh thyme
salt
pepper
Soak dried mushroom in one cup of hot water for 20-30 minutes.
Heat oil and margarine in a large saucepan, add onions and garlic and cook gently until soften but not brown, about 5 minutes, stir frequently.
Chop fresh mushroom, add to pan. Stir at medium heat for a few more minutes until begin to soften. Add stock, soaked mushroom and soaking liquid, salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat an cook for about 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
Pour the soup into a food processor and process until quite smooth. Return to saucepan.
Just before serving, add half and half while stirring and adjust salt and pepper. Check for consistency. Add more stock if soup is too thick.
Optional: Just before processing, I fish out and slice some of the dried mushroom (they are easy to detect since they are whole rather than sliced) to be used as garnish