Let’s talk about the mushroom soup which I really really love making.
Most important thing is to ensure that the mushrooms you use are wild mushrooms as they help to bring out the mushroom flavour of the soup.
Mushroom soup…reminds me of the days when I used to make them while I was a student for other students are sitting for exams during the exam period. It’s either sushi, mushroom soup…can’t remember what else I used to make for students….it’s really been 2 years since my cell leader left, plus I was working far away from Leeds so cooking for students is almost impossible in the last 2 years.
The recipe I used is by Jamie Oliver but I did modify his recipe slightly. I omitted the mascarpone at the time as I could not find it in the supermarket. Still tasted brilliant.
Mushroom soup recipe from http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/the-real-mushroom-soup:
Ingredients (serves 6)
1 small handful dried porcini
olive oil
600g mixed fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, girolles, trompettes de mort, shittake, oyster), 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 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 lemon
truffle oil, optional
Method:
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. I usually 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.
You can serve this soup as you like, but there are a few things to remember when finishing it off. 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. When you go to eat it, stir it in and it gives a wonderful flavour. 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. If I was going to use truffle oil, then I would use it on its own – a few drips on the top just before serving.
Stephylicious 