Creamy Mushroom Soup

Directions

1. Cover porcini mushrooms with just enough hot boiling water and set aside for 15 minutes. Remove the porcini mushrooms and roughly chopped them up. Reserve the mushroom water.
2. Heat butter and oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add in onion and cook until onion is soft and translucent but not browned.
3. Add in two handfuls of mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have shrunk in size. Add in another two handfuls of mushrooms. Repeat until all mushrooms have been added in.
4. Add in a pinch of salt and continue cooking the mushrooms. As you cook, the mushrooms will relese water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushroom water has evaporated and the mushrooms are of a rich, golden brown colour. This will take about 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Add in garlic, thyme and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to mix them together.
6. Add in the vegetable stock. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot with a lid, and simmer for 1 hour.
7. Remove the pot of soup from heat. Scoop out 1/3 of the soup and blend the rest. Stir back in the unblended soup.
8. Bring the soup back to a simmer then stir in the heavy cream. Don't bring the soup to a boil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve immediately.