Here is a quick way to make a delicious, intensely flavored mushroom soup that isn’t too rich, because it is thickened with cooked rice rather than cream.

　　

Ingredients

About 1 tablespoon dried porcini and/or other dried mushroom

　　1 tablespoon butter

　　1 small shallot (or 1/2 large one), chopped fine

　　4 medium fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped

　　Salt

　　1 cup or more chicken stock (page 81), or part stock and part water

　　1/4 cup cooked rice

　　A scattering of chopped fresh parsley and/or chives and tarragon

　　

Step 1

Soak the dried mushroom in 1/4 cup warm water for 20 minutes.

　　

Step 2

Melt the butter in a small pot, and sauté the shallot gently for a minute. Add the fresh mushrooms and the dried, squeezing out the draining water (save it). Sprinkle a little salt on top, and sauté, stirring now and then, for a few minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, the mushroom soaking liquid, and the rice, and cook gently for 10 minutes. Taste, and correct the seasoning. Purée in a food processor or blender or use an immersion blender until you have a relatively smooth soup. Pour into a warm bowl, and sprinkle fresh herbs on top.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.