Recipe - Cream Of Shiitake Mushroom Soup

1 qt Milk; whole, lowfat or skim
1 small Onion; peeled and stuck with
2 Cloves
6 Whole peppercorns (or more)
1 pn Salt

BOUQUET GARNI
:Tie in cheesecloth,
6 Fresh parsley stems,
One half teaspoon Dried leaf thyme
One half Bay leaf

SOUP, CON'T
4 tablespoon Rice flour
(or barley or oat flour)
4 tablespoon Cold milk (about)
8 ounce Shiitake mushrooms

OPTIONAL
6 tablespoon Heavy cream
2 tablespoon Madeira
Reserved mushroom slices

This rich, earthy soup has but 100 calories per serving if made with
nonfat milk.

PLACE THE MILK, ONION, peppercorns, salt and bouquet garni in a saucepan
and bring slowly to a boil. Form a smooth paste of the rice flour and the
cold milk. Put into the justboiling milk and stir briskly until there are
no lumps. Simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cut off the
tough ends of the mushroom stems. Reserve a few mushroom slices for garnish
and chop the remaining mushrooms coarsely, then place in a food processor
with a steel blade and chop as finely as possible. Strain the milk mixture
through a fine sieve back into the saucepan; add the chopped mushrooms and
continue simmering 5 minutes. Add the cream and Madeira, if you wish, and
serve in hot bowls, garnished with a slice of mushroom.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini