Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

You can can top with each serving with some crisp crumbled or chopped bacon. 


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 cups cremini/baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large garlic clove, mince
3 cups chicken broth (low sodium is fine)
1/4 cup white wine (not a sweet wine)  
3 to 4 tablespoons butter
4 to 5 tablespoons flour
1 can evaporated milk
(optional) 3 or 4 slices of crisp bacon, crumbled  
1/2 teaspoon salt (if your chicken broth has a high salt content, you can leave out this added salt) 
1 teaspoon black pepper

In a heavy duty pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the chopped onion and celery, saute for a minute or two, then add the garlic, cook another minute, then set the heat to low, add the mushrooms, cook a further 4 to 5 minutes. At first, the mushrooms will look like a mountain, but they will cook down substantially. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, stirring well to incorporate and to take the raw flour taste out (I used 4 tablespoons of flour, but I like mushroom soup very thick, so I added another tablespoon mixed with some of the canned milk. I put the milk/flour mix through a sieve, just in case there was any flour not mixed in). If you need to add a little more butter, do so, or add a little canola or regular oil. Gradually add the chicken broth, stirring constantly until the mixture simmers and thickens. Stir in the white wine, black pepper and salt (if using). Now stir in the canned milk, a little at a time (if you want the soup to be thicker, do as I noted above at this time. It will need to come to a simmer).  

With some crispy chopped bacon...

WORD HISTORY:
Moss-This word, distantly related to the noun "must" (grape juice, new wine; a Latin-derived word borrowed by many Germanic languages centuries ago), goes back to Indo European "meus," which meant, "wetness, dampness." This gave Old Germanic "musan," which meant, "bog, marsh;" and thus also, "moss" (plant growth in marshy areas). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "meos," which meant, "moss," and this then became "mosse," before the modern form. Other forms in the Germanic languages: German has "Moos," Low German has "Moss," West Frisian "moas," Dutch "mos," Danish has "mose" (meaning: marsh, bog, moor),^ Norwegian has "mose" (meaning: moss), Icelandic has "mosi" (moss), Swedish has "mossa."

^ The Germanic form also gave Old English "mos," which meant, "bog."