Let’s do a world-class mushroom and wild rice soup. It’s not complicated but it has quite a few steps. Here’s a list of stuff you’ll need.

Bring 4 cups of water (in an oven-safe 3 quart sauce pan with lid) almost to a boil. Add:
3/4 TBL salt
1 bay leaf
Sprigs of thyme (bundled/tied)
2-3 smashed cloves Garlic
1/4 tsp baking soda (this helps husk the rice properly)
1 Cup (box) of wild rice.

Bring the ingredients back to a boil, then transfer the wild rice, COVERED, to a 375° oven for :40min.

Strain rice from rice liquid (SAVING the rice liquid) into a second 2-3-quart pot. Add enough water to the rice liquid to equal 3 cups.

Remove the Bayleaf, sprigs of thyme, and garlic chunks from the strained rice. Set the rice aside. You won’t need it until the end.

Take a half ounce of dried mushrooms (shiitake, chanterelle, Portobello, or a combo) and grind them to a powder in your spice grinder. This mushroom powder will fortify end supercharge your mushroom soup flavor.

In a 5 quart Dutch Oven over medium high heat, add:
4 TBL butter
1 pound of Cremini (baby Bella)
Sliced/chopped-large chunks
1 onion minced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 TBL Tomato paste
1 tsp Black pepper
3/4 tsp salt

I’m cooking this over medium high heat for approximately 15 minutes to create a rich fun on the bottom of the pot and have the mushrooms brown as well. It starts off a little liquidy as you see here

But over the course of 15 minutes the mushroom mixture’s liquid content is reduced.

At the end of the 15 minutes I’ve got a very concentrated base of mushroom onion garlic and I want to deglaze the pot with 2/3 Cup of Marsala (sherry or chicken broth can be used). Scrape all the brown boots off the bottom of the pan and continue to work the glazing for :02 min.