Dreamy, creamy chicken and mushroom soup with a hint of Madeira wine in the background. Delicate and refined. Mmmm good.
It’s Fall, so they say. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the weather the season has changed in DFW. While not brutally hot, we are still hitting the 90s, which is above average temperature for this time of year. We have had only 1day where you really needed a light jacket to go outside. Most of the time I’m still running around in shorts and polo shirts. With this type of weather, it’s difficult to migrate into all the Fall foods that we love, soups, stews, braises, etc. Nonetheless, because it is Fall and I had 3 chicken carcasses in the freezer that needed to be cooked, I decided to make a creamy chicken soup. Then, I noticed the trumpet mushrooms that also needed to be cooked, so cream of chicken and mushroom soup it became. 🙂
I enjoy soups like this. It is hearty and satisfying. Yet it has delicate, complex flavors that just make you smile when take a taste. It definitely hit the spot. Hopefully, you will like it, too.
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter/oil
- 1 Tbsp shallots, minced
- 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- 1/2 cup mushrooms, disced
- 1/4 cup Madeira wine
- 6 cups Chicken broth (preferably homemade -it’s what the chicken carcasses were for)
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 Tbsp parsley, chopped for garnish
Instruction
Add butter to heavy bottom skillet and melt. Add shallots and sauté 2 minutes.
Add mushrooms and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add chopped chicken and cook for 3 minutes
Add 1/4 cup Madeira wine and cook until reduced by half
Add flour and stir to incorporate. Cook another 2 minutes stirring frequently.
Add chicken broth
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes to cook out the flour and thicken the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
Add heavy cream and stir to incorporate. Cook an additional 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning, as necessary.
Garnish with parsley. Serve & enjoy.
NOTE: If you do not keep homemade chicken broth and cooked chicken on hand, simply take a chicken cut into 8 pieces, 1 onion, roughly chopped, 1 rib of celery, roughly chopped, 1 clove of garlic, smashed, and 1/2 tsp thyme and place in a large pot. Cover completely with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 to 1-1/2 hour. This will provide you a very flavorful stock, as well as the cooked chicken meat, you need for the soup. 🙂
REMCooks 
Yum! Reminds me to make some stock:)
Thanks. It was really good. 🙂
I love the colour of the wine. I had a bottle of Madeira from my original ’58 birthday when I was 40. It was that tint. I remember it still. Lovely soup too.
Best,
Conor
Thanks, Conor. It is a lovely wine and normally one I don’t use for cooking but my cooking Madeira was gone so…Soup sure did taste good, though. 🙂
I always feel reluctant to make my own stock, but I guess if you have to cook the whole chicken anyway, then this would be a good reason to make some! I’ve never cooked with Madeira wine (that photo is very cool, btw) what’s it taste like? What else can you use it in?
It is very difficult to describe the flavor of Madeira wine and there are different types of Madeira wines. All Madeira wines, like Ports, Marsala, Sherry and Muscat wines, are a fortified wine. The one I used for this recipe is a Bual Madeira wine which uses the Bual grape, a white grape variety. Bual Madeira wines are medium sweet with the darkest color of all Madeira wines. It has a sweet flavor balanced with some acidity, a touch of smoke, caramel and dried fruits (like orange peel or apricot) on the backend with a lasting finish. It is a very pleasant after dinner dessert wine that goes well with cheeses, nuts and fruits. It just so happens to also go incredibly well in soups and sauces. It goes well with pork, poultry of all kinds, mushrooms, tiramisu and various other desserts, veal, beef short ribs, lamb shanks, etc. This list is pretty long.
This post just made me smile.. trumpet mushrooms and Madeira.. in a beautiful Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup.. now that says “fall” to me! Excellent!
Thanks for your very nice compliment. 🙂 The Madeira really makes this soup special.
If it’s any consolation, we’re currently in spring heading to summer and we’ve had snow in surrounding suburbs, howling wind and rain for the last couple of days. Sydney is plagued by indecisive weather so I think we can safely say the effects are felt worldwide.
I, on the other hand love chicken and mushroom soup, with the addition of Madeira it’s a flavorful and fragrant recipe no doubt.
Thanks. 🙂 The Madeira adds that nice sweet touch with the mild fruit finish on the backend.