Muenster Mushroom Chipotle Cream Soup!

Ok that title is a mouthful. I have been calling this Spicy Cheesy Mushroom Soup. This recipe came to me highly recommended by my friend Meredith who hosted a soup party a while back and asked all her guests to bring some soup. A girl after my own heart.

This soup was brought to her party and was a hit with everyone who attended. Meredith got me the recipe and I whipped it up with a few additions (noted below). The original recipe came from RecipeZaar.com.

Muenster Mushroom Chipotle Cream Soup (with Meatballs, not pureed)

Ingredients:
2 ounces unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup russet potato or yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cups white mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups muenster cheese, grated
1 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo
1 cup heavy cream
2 portabella mushrooms chopped and sauteed (or roasted and chopped)
a dozen or more frozen meatballs (from Ikea!)

Directions:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil and butter.
2. When butter is melted, add potatoes, onion and white mushrooms; season with salt and pepper.
3. Saute until onions are translucent, add broth, cheese and chipotle. Stir to combine and allow to simmer until potatoes are very soft, stirring frequently--do not worry if cheese seems to clump. (**I put in two of the chiles and some of the sauce, thinking it would not be that hot. I also added the meatballs in this step so they would cook in the broth.**)
4. Puree soup in a blender or food processor, strain through a sieve back into a saucepan (press on solids to remove all liquid)(**I left the puree step out because I did not want to deal with a blender/food processor. Instead I removed the adobo chiles at this point**) and add cream and portabellas.
5. Heat gently until just simmering.
6. Serve hot.

I made this so long ago, (but due to computer issues I am just posting it now) that I do not honestly remember what other additions I made to the original recipe but i don't think there were many. I pretty much stuck to the recipe except for leaving out the puree step and adding meatballs. Instead of the 4 portabellas that the recipe called for I used two and used meatballs to sort of replace the portabellas.

This soup turned out really great. It was a little bit too spicy though because of the adobo chiles. I'm glad I removed them whole rather than chopping them first or blending it like the recipe called for. But I think if I had used only one chile instead of two, it would have been just the right amount of spice. The meatballs were a nice addition, I just love those frozen Ikea meatballs in soup.

Apparently my photos of this soup got lost in my move to a new laptop and I am really sad because I just typed this whole thing up! You will just have to take my word for it. This is one delicious soup if you like mushrooms and cheese and spicy!