Begin by preparing your mushrooms. Simply wipe them off with a wet paper towel or rinse lightly under cold water and pat dry. If using shiitake, remove the stems and slice the caps into strips. With button-type mushrooms, remove the stems and chop, then slice the caps. With larger oyster mushrooms, trim the tougher bottoms of the stems and discard. Then chop the remaining stem and cut the caps in half.

In a large, high-sided skillet or Dutch oven, begin to melt the butter. Add grapeseed oil (you may substitute with olive oil). By adding the oil you are increasing the smoke point of the butter so it doesn't brown as quickly. Start adding your sliced mushroom caps to brown. I always brown my mushrooms first; it really brings out the flavor. Once the sliced caps are nice and golden, add the chopped stems and brown. Add the chopped shallot, minced garlic, and sauté the mushrooms until tender.

Season everything with a good pinch or two of Cook’s Line Seasoning or salt and pepper to taste, followed up with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Mushrooms love nutmeg and I think it really brings out the flavors. Now, I’m going to throw a French culinary term at you; Singer. No, not like the sewing machine but the French pronunciation “San-Jeh”. It means to dust the top of something cooking in fat with flour. This is where you sprinkle in the flour on top of the sautéed mushrooms and shallots. In essence, what you are doing is making a roux. Mix in the flour and cook the mixture as you would a roux.

Pour in 2 cups of chicken stock and mix everything together. Add the stem of fresh thyme and heat to a thickened simmer. Cover and lightly simmer for ten minutes. Add more chicken stock if the soup is getting too thick. Reduce the heat and pour in the heavy whipping cream. Stir to combine, and cover to keep your soup warm until ready to serve. When ready to serve, remove and discard the thyme stem. Pour the soup into a taurine, or ladle into warmed individual bowls. Top with Pan-Fried Croutons. Pour in that luxurious cream!

Pan-Fried Croutons

In a cast iron pan or large skillet, begin melting and heating the butter and oil. Once the bubbles from the butter have subsided, add minced garlic. Follow that up with the cubed bread. Sprinkle the tops with “Cook’s Line” Seasoning or salt and black pepper. Toss and coat the bread in the pan and gently fry the croutons until golden brown.