Mushroom Bisque Without Roux ~ The Way It’s Supposed To Be

Rant for the day ~ I am so sick of people thickening a soup with roux and calling it bisque. I will go on the record as saying that this is incorrect use of the term “bisque”. Bisque implies (if not outright demands) that the soup be thickened with rice. People can do as they wish, of course, but  calling a simple creamed soup thickened with roux a bisque is the height of pretension and demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge and skill. On to more important things…

As you know (if you have read my last two posts here and here ), I have a ton of cooked mushrooms. This is a blessing not a curse. Today as I was thinking of the plethora of mushrooms in my possession I suddenly had a hankering for cream of mushroom soup. One small complication is that my lovely wife is not eating gluten making necessary a small adjustment to my recipe. I decided to thicken the soup with rice instead of flour and butter. Once the base was made I added the mushrooms and had a delightful mushroom bisque (see rant above) in about 30 minutes .

Mushroom Bisque Recipe:

Servings: 4 bowls or 8 cups

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, peeled, diced

1 clove garlic, mashed

½ cup Arborio rice

1 tsp curry powder

2 quarts Water (or your stock of choice: chicken, vegetable, celery juice etc.)

2 cups sauteed mushrooms, any variety or combination that pleases you, with their accumulated juices

¼ cup heavy cream

2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

freshly ground black pepper

a pinch of thyme

Heat the sauce pan, add the oil. Saute the onions and garlic until they are translucent. Add the rice and the curry powder stirring until the curry powder becomes quite fragrant. Add the water or stock stirring to make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom. Bring this to a boil and then simmer for about 25 minutes until the rice is quite soft. Using an immersion blender blend the soup until it is perfectly smooth and has the consistency of a light bechamel sauce. Add the mushrooms and season with the rest of the seasoning. You can finish the soup with heavy cream or even egg yolks for extra richness, but frankly, it should not need it. Enjoy!