Tis the season for soup, and lots of it. I don't generally use recipes, so I don't have much to post here. My strategy is to look at a bunch of different recipes for something that sounds good and then wing it keeping the parts that sound "right." I made up some really tasty mushroom soup to eat alongside a bratwurst, and since it's only slightly removed from the recipe I found online, I can actually recreate what I did. It's both good, and pretty quick and easy to make.
Hungarian Mushroom Soup
3/4 pound chopped mushrooms1
1 onion, chopped
5Tbs butter (divided use)
2Tbs flour
2 C Stock2
1C milk
4Tbs chopped dill3
2Tbs paprika4
2Tbs lemon juice
salt/pepper, t of each
4oz sour cream
1I used half Cremini and half ordinary white ones. Honestly, the flavors aren't distinct enough to differentiate through the boldness of the soup. Unless you're going to throw in something partiuclarly exotic, one variety will be just fine.
2I used chicken because I had it, although beef might be better. Honestly doesn't matter much, though.
3For fuck's sake, buy fresh dill. Don't use a freeze dried version of the most prevalent herb. It cost me a buck-twenty five for a bunch and I only used half of it. I'll get creative with the other half.
4Two Tbs is a lot of paprika. If you're using particularly hot stuff (like me), you might want to scale it back. Or, use 1Tb hot and 1TB regular (sweet) stuff, which is what I'll do next time.
Saute your onions in 2Tbs of butter until clear. Throw in your mushrooms and let them cook until all of the liquid has evaporated. It took mine a good 10 minutes, easily. While this is happening make your roux, with 3/2 Tbs butter/flour. Once you get a nice caramel colored roux, stir in your stock (whisking briskly, of course), followed by the milk. Once the base gets heated up, add the Paprika, dill, salt/pepper and lemon juice. Once the mushrooms/onions are finished you can mix them in. Bring this to a simmer and give it 10-15 minutes so the flavors start to blend. At this temperature, you'll have to temper the sour cream to keep it from exploding when it hits the soup. Put your 4oz in a container of some sort, and add some soup to it 2Tbs at a time, stirring each addition so that the sour cream works up to a decent temperature (gradually, that's the key). It should take 3 or 4 additions, at which point you can add all of it back into your soup and it won't come apart. At this point, give it a good stirring, let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so and dig in. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and some of your remaining dill weed.
Feel free to ask questions if I'm not clear on something. Given the lack of obscenity and personality exposition, technical writing isn't exactly my forte.