Wendy Maitland’s Cream of Mushroom soup!
Cost approximately $50, (cheap!), time approximately 45 minutes.
Feeds 8 people

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil (pour in 1 quart sauce pan)
• 1/2 Spanish onion- chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• About a cup and a half chicken broth
• 1 Idaho potato, peeled and sliced into about 1/4 inch strips
• 3 cups sliced mushrooms (aka Pennsylvania Whites)
• 1.5 cups shitake mushrooms --- no stems
• 1/4 cup crème fraiche
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

• Sautee onion in heated olive oil until translucent.
• Add white wine.
• Let simmer for a few minutes while slicing potato and mushrooms.
• Add broth to pot
• Season with Salt and Pepper
• When the broth comes to a boil, add the potatoes
• Cook potato until just tender (not mushy)-about 6 minutes if they're thin enough.
• Add mushrooms
• Cook for about 5-8 minutes, until they are tender.
• Stir in crème fraiche.
• Let mixture simmer for about 2 minutes.
• Blend 1/2 the mixture with butter (butter goes right into blender-not melted), with Salt and Pepper to taste. (Very important- only fill your blender half way and be very careful so you to not have a soup explosion)
• Put the blended mixture back into the pan with the mushrooms, etc, and stir…taste.
• Serve hot.