The chilly weather last week had me craving a hearty soup, and even though it has warmed up a little, I decided to go ahead with my soup-making plans anyway. Buut, maybe I should have waited after all. My wild mushroom and oyster stew obviously requires oysters, and I could swear the entire city of Atlanta was out of my favorite mollusk last night. I like to buy pre-shucked oysters for this to save time and my fingers, and I spent 2 hours calling and visiting close to 10 grocery stores around Midtown/Downtown before I was finally charged an arm and a leg for the last container at Whole Foods. If only I lived closer to the Dekalb Farmers’ Market… Anyway. Once you actually have all the ingredients, the soup comes together pretty quickly. I made a few additions to the recipe, which I will discuss after the jump:

Wild Mushroom & Oyster Stew

Instead of melting butter in my saucepan, I started by frying up some bacon because 1) I wanted to crumble some into my soup and 2) It’s a delicious (though fatty) alternative to butter for sauteeing the vegetables in the next step. Instead of the onion/celery/shallot mix, I opted for the trinity (onion/celery/green pepper), which was just more convenient for me as Publix sells a pre-chopped trinity blend in the produce department. This has long been a secret of my mom’s for her gumbo and smothered-whatevers, and I’ve always appreciated it because I’m not crazy about chopping vegetables.

So, fry some bacon, remove from the pan, and add the vegetables. After allowing those to soften, add the mushrooms, garlic, and thyme. I would recommend seasoning with salt and pepper at this step to get every layer seasoned, because my final product needed a lot of help in that area. Next, add and reduce some white wine, then cream and oyster liquor (the juice from the oyster container, or you can sub chicken stock). Finally, add in the oysters and some lemon juice and cook just until the edges of the oysters start to curl, about 2 or 3 minutes.

This soup is very hearty and filling, especially if you have nice juicy oysters (mine were only medium-sized). You can tune the flavor a little depending on the type of mushrooms you use also. I had oyster, shiitake, and cremini mushrooms in this version. My two special additions on top were the crumbled bacon and 2 fried oysters I made with a few I had set aside. The leftovers of those went to trying to recreate Star Provisions’ Oyster Po’boy the next day:

Oyster Po'boy

It wasn’t Star Provisions, but it was still fantastic!

Wild Mushroom and Oyster Stew
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2002

Prep Time:25 min
Cook Time:18 min
Level: Intermediate
Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onions
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 pound wild mushrooms, such as shiitake, oyster, morel, chanterelle, wiped clean, stems trimmed or removed, and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 pint oysters, drained, liquor reserved
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• Freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• Salt
• Finely chopped chives, garnish
• Thinly sliced garlic toast, accompaniment

Directions

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, and shallots, and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and thyme, and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are soft and give up their liquid but are not browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until reduced by half. Add the cream and oyster liquor and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened. Add the lemon juice and oysters and cook until the oysters begin to curl, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Ladle into cream soup bowls and garnish with chopped chives and garlic toast. Serve hot.