Hearty Mushroom Chowder: Rich, Earthy, and Incredibly Delicious!
Mushroom chowder is an incredibly tasty comfort food for gloomy cold days and a great soup to make in the summer with random veggies from your garden. This creamy soup is rich, and full of flavor. The beauty of this recipe is that you can adapt it to what you have available. If you follow a few basics, it'll turn out incredibly delicious with most any ingredients. But the mushrooms really raise it to lofty heights
Equipment
- 8 quart stockpot with a heavy bottom - if you don't have one, consider shopping Tramontina brand cookware.
- Turner or long-handled cooking spoon
- Cutting board and knife
- A few bowls
Ingredients
- 2-4 Tbsp butter or lard
- 1-2 lbs mushrooms
- 1-2 onions - essential!
- 2-3 large leeks - optional
- ½ - 1 lb bacon chopped - essential
- 4-6 large garlic cloves - essential
- 1 quart of bone broth or ham stock - or use the juice from roasting the meat. A rich, concentrated homemade broth is an essential ingredient.
- 2 quarts whole milk - essential! You might need a little more if you want it more soupy.
- 4 large potatoes - essential
- 1-2 lbs Meat of choice cut into cubes - kind of optional but highly recommended
- 4 quarts of fresh leavy greens - or a small bag (about 2 cups) of frozen.
- 2 cups corn - optional
- 4-5 hot peppers - optional, but recommended
- 1 cup of sweet peppers - optional
- 1 cup sour cream and/or ½ -1 cup heavy cream - optional but delicious
- ½ cup flour - optional, if you want to thicken it, I don't.
- Salt,pepper, nutmeg, paprika, thyme, cayenne, oregano, parsley
Find more optionals in the notes below!
Instructions
- Prepare your meats (Roast your pork, cook your ham, braise your ribs, etc.) or chop leftover meat. I like to use slow cooked pork ribs or shoulder roast best, or a shoulder ham or ham hocks. Save the broth for making the soup. Ham broth has great flavor. (I save some of mine whenever I cook a ham, just for making this chowder!)
- Chop all your vegetables and meat into cubes or bite-sized bits. Frozen vegetables don't need to be defrosted, just toss the chunk into the pot later and it'll defrost as it cooks.
- Melt the fat in your large stock pot.
- Add the bacon and render it on medium-low heat, then turn up the heat a little and brown the bits.
- Add the onions and leeks and lightly brown, turn down the heat and cook till translucent.
- Turn the heat up a little and add the mushrooms and garlic. Saute till the mushrooms are are limp and shrunk.
- Add the potatoes and beans and other long cooking veggies. Then add the bone broth and the meat and then the leafy greens on top. Don't stir. Cover, bring to a simmer and cook for about half an hour or till the vegetables are soft.
- Add the milk and heat again to a simmer.
- Season to taste.
- If you like it thick, pour the heavy cream or some milk into a canning jar, add the flour, and close tightly with a lid. Shake it vigorously to incorporate the flour. Pour through a strainer into the soup if you want to avoid lumps. (I usually dont, but then I don't care about a few little lumps). Stir well and simmer gently for about 5-10 more minutes to thicken.
- If you like it rich and creamy, add the sour cream now and stir well. It does also add some great flavor.
- Keep it on the heat till it comes up to almost a simmer again and then turn it off so the chowder doesn't curdle. And it's ready to serve.
- Garnish with some fresh chopped parsley if you have it, or use salt-cured parsley (this is what I do in the winter). And serve with a crusty slice of country sourdough bread for dipping (A super tasty recipe will come soon. Stay tuned and subscribe to get my updates!), or serve with a slice of my easy, everyday, no-knead kamut sourdough bread, toasted and buttered.