Mushroom Vegetable Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb whole mushroom
2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine, divided
1 cup carrot, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
2 cups water
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dry sherry

Preparation

Clean mushrooms, slice half and set aside. Chop remaining mushrooms and saute them in 1 T. butter in a large soup pot.
Add all remaining vegetables (except the SLICED mushrooms) and cook 6-7 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in broth, water, tomato paste and seasonings.
Simmer, covered for 1 hour over low heat.
Remove bay leaf.
In a large skillet, melt remaining butter and saute sliced mushrooms till tender.
At this point if you do not want sliced mushrooms in the finished product ADD mushrooms to soup pot, if you want sliced mushrooms in the finished product set them aside.
Puree soup in a blender in batches. Take care to hold on to the cover as this is a HOT mixture and the cover will fly off if you don't.
Return mixture to soup pot. Add the sherry and if you reserved the sliced mushrooms add them to the pot now.
Heat gently, stirring often.