Mushroom Bisque

I love mushrooms! (So does my husband.) He was trying to work in his office and confessed he was distracted by the delicious smells from the kitchen as I made this soup. I made a nice celery, bleu cheese, apple, and almond salad served on top of baby spinach to go with, which was tasty, too. Here's the mushroom bisque recipe, based on Molly Katzen's from the Moosewood cookbook, with some tweaks.

Ingredients
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. sliced mushrooms--can use button mushrooms or a mix. I only had button mushrooms and it turned out well. But it'd be even better with a variety ...
1/4 c. dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 1/2 c. boiling water
1 med. red onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, minced
1 tsp. salt
2 sm. garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 1/2 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 1/2 Tbsp. tamari
1 large baking potato, skinned and diced + 1 c. of cooking liquid
2/3 c. whole milk
cracked black pepper to taste

Directions
Put the potato on to boil, and simmer until tender. Also, heat 1/2 c. water to boiling and soak porcini mushrooms for a few minutes. As potatoes boil, melt butter in lg., heavy saucepan on medium heat. Add onion and celery and saute 5 min., stirring occasionally. Then add fresh mushrooms, soaked mushrooms with liquid, and salt and cook for 10 minutes, covered -- stirring periodically. Halfway through 10 minutes, add thyme and garlic (adding them later keeps their flavors brighter) and continue cooking. When mushrooms are finished cooking, add sherry and tamari and remove from heat. Set aside.

Place cooked potato in blender with 1 c. of cooking liquid, and blend until smooth, adding more cooking liquid if you think it's too thick. Return potato puree to a clean large saucepan and puree mushrooms with their liquid. If you run out of liquid -- as you surely will -- add the milk in with the mushrooms. Combine mushroom puree with potato puree. If the mixture is too thick add more milk until you acheive desired consistency. Warm gently over medium-low heat, add cracked black pepper to taste, and adjust other seasonings. Serve immediately with crusty bread or some buttered whole grain toast.

Jessica