If you are going to really enjoy mushrooms soup, please use wild mushrooms and dried ceps or porcini – there is so much more flavour than the forced button mushrooms on sale these days.
The quantities for the liquid are purely a guideline – these makes a medium thick soup, but if you prefer something with more liquid, just increase the quantities, or if you want to be able to stand your spoon up in it (!) decrease a bit. It’s all a matter of taste!
Serves: 2 insulated bottles (500ml)
Preparation Time: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 50g dried porcini
- 25g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 2 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
- 200g wild mushrooms (you can get them fresh in mixed packs in supermarkets
- 450ml vegetable stock
- Porcini water (should be around 125ml)
- 125ml single cream or crème fraiche
- ½tbsp finely chopped chives
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- Firstly, get a medium sized bowl for your porcini, and cover them in boiling water, so that the liquid is about 10cm (no less) above the level of the porcini. Leave to soak for about 20 minutes until they soften.
- Strain the porcini, but do not throw the liquid away, it is important for the flavour.
- Whilst the porcini is soaking, take a pan and put the butter, garlic, onion and thyme leave in, then stir to coat. Cook until softened and beginning to turn slightly brown, but don’t let them burn.
- Chop the porcini and the wild mushrooms and add to the pan. Cook, stirring, for approximately 5 mins until the contents are all very soft.
- Add the stock and porcini water to the pan, bring back to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer.
- Leave to simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
- Add crème fraiche (or cream), and keep to a simmer for 3-4 minutes, making sure you stir to even out the mixture.
- Using a blender, blitz your soup, then strain through a sieve, rubbing the final bits through to gain maximum flavour.
- If the soup has cooled too much, reheat gently. Adjust seasoning and add the chives before decanting into your insulated bottles.
Nutritional Values:
Calories 347, Fat 27g, Saturates16g, Carbohydrates 20g, Sugars 5g, Fibre 4g, Protein 8g, Salt 0.89g
