At the last foray for 2008 of our mushroom group SVMS I wanted to bring a hot soup. The weather had cooled and soup seemed to be the thing to bring. Being a mushroom club foray, wild mushrooms would have to be involved.

As a child I always hated sweet potatoes. They would invariably make their appearance around holidays, stuffed into a casserole dish, loaded with sugar and topped with marshmallows. I am not a big fan of sweets, never have been. last year my father made us a sweet potato pie that tasted more like a pumpkin pie. Hmm, I like cooking with pumpkins. Maybe a sweet potato based soup with chanterelles?

Follow up:

A little experimentation later and I had confirmed my suspicion that sweet potatoes and chanterelles would play together well, and in a soup to boot. Since the last foray is over an hour from our house, and starts in the am, I would make the soup up the night before, quick chill it by immersing the pot in ice water, and keep it on in the fridge until morning. Upon arrival, I could set the soup up to warm, walk the foray, and finish it before it was time to eat. Great plan?

So the night before I made up the soup, packed all that I would need to heat and serve, and our mushrooming stuff of course. The next morning we rose early, loaded the car, and off we go. Of course we were running a little late (if you had a daughter you would know why). So we roar up the highway, then on to rural roads, and finally tear down the final dirt roads to get to Linda's place.

Hmm, no cars, no people, did the time change? Quick call to a friend (to check SVMS's web site) and it was confirmed; we're a week early! So back home we go. Now this soup is too rich to hang out in the fridge for a week. So I froze it, and then defrosted in the fridge for a day and a half before the event. It reheated well, so well that my wife had to chase folks away until I returned from the walk to finish it with the half and half and saffron. All it all this was a great make ahead dish and I did not have to bring any leftovers home.