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["Clean all the mushrooms before chopping (wipe with damp paper towel, or remove dirt with small mushroom brush).", "Melt butter and olive oil in soup pot on medium heat.", "Add shallot, cook until beginning to caramelize, stirring infrequently.", "Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their liquid and liquid has mostly evaporated.", "Add broth and any soaking liquid, scraping up browned bits. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until mushrooms are tender. Adjust seasoning.", "Remove from heat, cool slightly. Puree soup with stand blender (in batches) or immersion blender until smooth. (Add more liquid if you want it thinner: broth or water would do.).", "Serve.", "NOTES * I used a combination of fresh mushrooms including cremini, chanterelle, hen of the woods (maitake), and beech (bunashimeji). For depth of flavor, I added some some dried shiitake mushrooms. Soak dried mushrooms in 1-2 cups hot water for 30-60 minutes before use; add the liquid with the broth (discard sediment; if using shiitakes, discard stems too, they are tough). * Instead of separating the thyme leaves, you can just tie a bunch of sprigs together and fish the bundle out before pureeing. * The original recipes suggested leaving it half-pureed and ""rustic"" but I found it grainy so I pureed it completely. * This soup can be made ahead. Reserve 1-2 cups broth and add it while reheating on medium-low. * This is what I did for garnish per serving. When the butter and olive oil were hot, I cooked some pretty slices of cremini and reserved them. On each serving I drizzled about 1 tsp cream, eyedroppered very few drops of truffle oil, sprinkled a couple of thyme leaves, and floated a reserved mushroom slice."]
