Mushrooms in sepia

The shitakes were looking good at the market this morning, so I made one of my favorite winter soups -- a mushroom puree thickened with dark, toasted bread.

The recipe is adapted from F&W, which adapts it from Michel Bras and the poor-mans-food recipes of his childhood.

(Note: I don't like cream in my soups, so I skipped step four all together. The soup was thicker that way, though none the worse for it.)

Mushroom soup with toasted bread 

Three 1/2-inch slices of sourdough bread (6 ounces), crusts removed 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds white mushrooms, coarsely chopped *
2 portobello mushrooms—stems discarded, black gills reserved for garnish, caps coarsely chopped*
     *1 1/2 lb shitakes, stems removed, did the trick.
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
Salt and freshly ground white pepper 
6 cups vegetable broth or water 
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 dill sprigs*
    *I used dried thyme, which I prefer over dill.

1. Preheat the oven to 300°. Bake the bread slices on a baking sheet for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, until deeply browned.
2. In a pot, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and the garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, until the mushrooms are softened, 5 minutes. Add the broth and 1/2 cup of the cream; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the mushrooms are tender, 10 minutes.
3. Add the toasted bread to the soup; simmer until softened, 5 minutes. Working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor. Return the soup to the pot, season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
4. In a saucepan, bring the remaining 1/4 cup of cream to a boil. Remove from the heat; whisk until frothy. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the frothed cream, garnish with the dill and portobello gills and serve.