MUSHROOM SOUP, Yields 6
Ingredients:
- 1 small handful of dried porcini
- olive oil
- 600 g mixed fresh wild mushrooms, clean and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 handful fresh thyme, leaves picked
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1-litre organic chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese
- 1 lemon
Instructions:
- Place the porcini in a small dish, add boiling water just to cover, and leave to soak. Get a large casserole-type pan nice and hot, then add a good couple of lugs of olive oil and your fresh mushrooms. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion and thyme and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you’ll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms and at this point add half of your porcini, chopped up, and the rest left whole. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit, and add it to the pan. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.
- Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. Remove half the soup from the pan and whiz it up to a purée at this point, then pour it back in, adding the parsley and mascarpone, and seasoning carefully to taste.
- Mix together a pinch of salt and pepper with the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of it, then spoon a little of this into the middle of the soup. Other things you can consider are little slices of grilled crostini put into the bottom of the bowls before the soup is poured over. Or you could even quickly fry some nice-looking mushrooms – like girolles, chanterelles or oysters – and sprinkle these on top of the soup.
Recipe by Jamie Oliver
