Creamy Por­to­bel­lo Soup With Duck Broth

Creamy Por­to­bel­lo Soup With Overnight Broth
(serves four)

3 tbsps butter
3 cloves garlic
6 cups fresh “overnight” chick­en or duck stock
dash of Madeira, Marsala or sweet vermouth
6 large por­to­bel­lo mush­rooms, rough­ly chopped
4 tbsps creme fraiche, or sour cream, or light cream

To make your “overnight” stock, sim­ply place the bones from your sup­per chick­en or duck into a heavy oven­proof stock­pot with any scraps of veg­eta­bles you might have on hand, and cov­er with water.  Place in the “sim­mer” oven of your AGA and leave overnight.  In the morn­ing, you will dis­cov­er a dark, rich, beau­ti­ful stock.  Even if you for­get this and leave it for two days — this has hap­pened! — do not despair.  Run boil­ing water over the dehy­drat­ed bones and veg­eta­bles and let sit for half an hour.  All will be well.  Strain stock into a fresh stock­pot and place in fridge for as many hours as you can, until fat solid­i­fies on top.  Remove fat.

Melt your but­ter in a nice heavy stock­pot and saute the gar­lic gen­tly. Care­ful­ly pour in the stock, add the liquor and the mush­rooms. Sim­mer for about 45 min­utes, remove from heat and puree with a hand blender. Whisk in the creme fraiche and voila.