Hi, I’m Mary Johnson, and I’ve been cooking gluten-free for the past 20 years (I know, I’m old!) Here’s one of my favorite posts about cooking gluten-free. It’s the base sauce for so many good dishes. There’s more at my blog at http://gfwriterscook.blogspot.com. Enjoy !
After seeing so many recipes using Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, here’s the bottom line.
Campbell’s Mushroom soup is delicious, but you really don’t need the soup in a can to make a good base for your GF recipes. Here are three tried and true substitutes for the famous Campbell’s concoction
A basic white sauce will stand in every time. It’s the baseline sauce for the good life-if you can master it, then substitute it in recipes calling for Cream of Mushroom soup, you can live without the Campbell’s version in any recipe.
Number One: Recipe for Homemade Cream of Mushroon Soup: Much richer than the mock version, but the mock one is pretty good as a stand-alone dish. If you have company coming or don’t particularly care about the calorie count, this is delicious.
Note: 1 can of cream of mushroom soup = 1 ¼ cup of this:
½ cup butter-divided
3 8 oz packages fresh mushrooms chopped
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whipping cream
1 8oz package cream cheese
2 1 oz container homestyle chicken stock (Knorr was used to test)
Directions: Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat; add the mushrooms and saute 10 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Transfer to a bowl
2. Reduce heat to medium. Melt remaining 5 tbsp butter in Dutch oven. Whisk in flour until smooth; whisk 1 more minute. Gradually whisk in cream and other ingredients.
3. Cook, whisking constantly 2 minutes or until melted and smooth. Remove from heat, stir in reserved mushrooms. Serve or cool. Freezes well; thaw and heat and serve.
Number 2: Here’s your basic white sauce. If you master this, you won’t care about the Campbell’s soup can anymore. *I use a Vita-Mix blender. Any good blender should do the trick.
1 1/3 cups Lowfat milk-soy milk
¼ cup all purpose flour-GF
¼ cup Light butter
½ tsp salt-opt
*Place ingredient in blender (Vita-Mix) in order listed above. Secure the lid and start speed on low (1 on VM). Quickly increase the speed to High and blend for about 5 minutes. For Cheese Sauce:May add ½ to ¾ cup of good low-fat cheese.
Number 3: My Mock Cream of Mushroom soup: This is the best recipe I’ve found for a stand- alone soup. If I was going to make a dish using a substitute for the Campbell’s soup, I’d use the white sauce. But if you want a simple yet hearty mushroom soup, this one fits the bill. As always with good recipes, there’s some secret ingredient that makes it stand apart. In this recipe, the secret is… add a touch of Angostura bitters at the end.
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ to ¾ cup onion, chopped fine
¼ cup + 2 tbsp of butter light
¼ cup GF Flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup soy milk/1/2 cup half and half or cream*
1 tsp salt (opt)
¼ tsp white pepper
½ cup dry sherry
¼ tsp Angostura bitters
Saute mushrooms and onion in butter in a saucepan on low for 10 minutes or until mixture is tender. Add the flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stir constantly. Gradually add the broth; cook on medium heat, stir constantly, until mix is thickened and bubbling.
Reduce heat to low; stir in remaining ingredients. Cook until heated through, stir frequently. Serve.
Yield: 1 ½ quarts
I use a mix of soy milk, but you can use organic cream or half and half to make it, depending on your allergy level.
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