Cream soup of champignons with cream

Thoroughly wash the champignons, set aside 2 beautiful strong mushrooms. Separate the stems and chop them coarsely. Slice the caps into thin pieces. Place the stems in a pot, add 1-1.5 liters of cold water, add thyme and an unpeeled clove of garlic. Bring to a boil, simmer covered on low heat for 30 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat a third of the olive oil, add the chopped caps, season with salt, and cover. Cook on high heat, shaking the skillet, for 5 minutes. Open the lid - there should be mushroom juice in the skillet. Carefully scoop it into a pot where the stems are cooking. Add the remaining olive oil, mix, and sauté, stirring, for another 10 minutes.

Place the prepared caps in the pot 5-10 minutes before the end of cooking (remove thyme and garlic). Pour about 1 cup of broth and let it cool slightly. While the mushrooms finish cooking, melt butter in a small saucepan, add flour, and sauté over low heat, stirring constantly for 3-4 minutes. Then, pour in the reserved broth in a thin stream, whisking continuously. Cook, stirring to avoid lumps (add more broth if necessary) for 7-10 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, add the seasoning from the saucepan, blend until smooth, return to the pot. Bring to a boil, pour in the cream, heat without boiling, season with salt and pepper, remove from heat.

For serving, slice the delayed champignons thinly. Grind the dried white mushrooms with dry thyme into flour in a mortar or in a coffee grinder. Pour the soup into warmed plates, place a few slices of champignons in the center, and sprinkle with the powder of white mushrooms and thyme. Serve immediately.