Jersey Winter And Mushroom Soup!

It's snowing again here in Jersey! As Sr. Maria said, "It's nice to have a real January for a change!" Now all you who have to drive in this weather, don't get upset! Some of us remember having to drive in it to go to work and didn't like it one bit, either!

The other day we received a wonderful gift of fresh vegetables, including a box of mushrooms! So, that could mean only one thing: mushroom soup! Sr. Cook surprised us tonight with a huge kettle of steaming soup that tasted just wonderful with cheese sandwiches! As you can see, it doesn't take much to make nuns happy! As one sister said, "After God, what more could you want!"

Here is Sister's recipe...we think. Sister confessed that when it comes to soup (and a lot of other things in the kitchen) she wings it!

Rosary Shrine Mushroom Soup

22 cups of sliced mushrooms (that food processor we received at Christmas got a workout!)

1 large onion

1 large wooden spoon of chicken broth "paste"

A "finger- pick up" of thyme (whatever that is!)

Fill soup kettle with water, mushrooms, etc. and let cook under tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile:

3 T of butter/ margarine, melted.

Take off the stove and whisk in 4 T of cornstarch, 3 c of milk, salt and pepper. Put back on stove and heat up until well blended.

With a stick blender zap the cooked mushrooms until nicely blended. Your choice as to how far you want to go. Pour in the milk mixture and heat up and let it boil a little so it thickens.

TASTE.

Add a little Old Bay Seasoning if you have it.

TASTE.

Go to stockroom and look for some cooking sherry. Pour in to soup to taste.

TASTE.

Find a sister who likes to taste and critique soup and have her taste it to find out if it is OK.

TASTE.

Turn off stove, cover and go to Vespers!

Benedictus Deus dones eis!