Lobster Mushroom Bisque Recipe

By Tammy Kimbler


Ingredients:

3 lbs lobster mushrooms, cleaned & thinly sliced
6 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
4 large shallots, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 tbs tomato paste

Kosher salt & pepper, to taste

1⁄4 cup vodka

12 sprigs parsley
6 sprigs thyme
2 large bay leaves
2 cups white wine
6 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp tabasco sauce
1 cup heavy cream or 1/2 & 1/2
1 tbs chopped parsley


Instructions: 

In a large pot, heat butter and olive oil.  On medium high heat, add lobster mushrooms.  Cook until all water is evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown.  Add shallots, carrots, celery, garlic and onions and cook until vegetables are lightly brown, about 15 minutes.  Add tomato paste and combine.  Season with salt & pepper.  Add vodka to the pan to deglaze, scraping up browned bits.  Tie the parsley & thyme in to a bundle and add to pot with bay leaves, wine and stock.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until mushrooms are tender.  Puree the soup in a blender until smooth.  For extra smoothness, strain through a sieve.  Return puree to the pot and add heavy cream.  Simmer 5 more minutes, but do not boil.  Check seasonings and serve.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley.  You’d swear there was lobster in there.

A chronicle of my adventures growing, preserving, cooking and eating from my garden and everywhere.

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The moral of the story is to be sure that you know what you’re picking (and eating.)  While I morn the pounds of lobsters we threw away, it is always better to be safe.  It’s best if someone can show you what a real edible mushroom looks and smells like in person, preferably in the right habitat, like on a foray.  Then the field guides make sense.  Identifying specimens only from a guide can be a risky business.  As my friend & fellow forager Kathy likes to say, “Every mushroom is edible - once.” 


Below you’ll find my recipe for Lobster Mushroom Bisque, which is a dead knockoff for the real thing.  You won’t believe how much it tastes like real lobster.  But instead of growing in the sea and costing $20 a pop, it grows in the dirt and is harvested for free.  Now that’s what I call foraging.

Known to many for my incredible ability to organize, I tackle gardening and life with equal verve.  Obsessive, is that a bad thing?