Jacques Pepin's Mushroom Soup (v)

Ingredients

• 2 tbs unsalted butter
• 8 oz cleaned mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1 small leek, cleaned and sliced thin (about 1 cup), or 1 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 4 C chicken stock, canned chicken broth, or vegetable broth
• ¼ C yellow cornmeal or yellow grits
• 1 C light cream
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbs chopped chives

Directions

1. Heat the butter in a large saucepan.
2. When the butter is hot, add the mushrooms and leek and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil.
3. Using a whisk, mix in the cornmeal. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the cream, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.
5. Serve immediately, sprinkled with the chives.

Chef's Notes

• Using vegetable broth makes this vegetarian, replacing the cream with a plant-based alternative makes it vegan