Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup recipe

Cream of Wild Mushroom soup (serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients

• 25g butter
• 20ml sunflower or olive oil
• 300g onions (2 medium) - roughly chopped
• 400g potatoes - roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 250g portobella mushrooms - roughly chopped
• 20g dried porcini
• 600ml vegetable or mushroom stock
• 500ml whole milk
• 50ml double cream
• 1 tsp za'atar
• salt and pepper to taste

Process

First boil about 100ml of water and add the porcini to soak for about 20 minutes.

Next, melt the butter then add oil, the onion, potatoes and garlic to a good sized pot. Sweat it over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking.

Then add the stock, preferably already boiling. Turn the heat to high and stir well until the soup base comes to the boil then turn down to a medium heat. Then add the mushrooms, bring back to a simmer if needed. Stir in the porcini and liquid but avoid getting the sediment in the soup.

Simmer for about another 20 minutes. Assuming the potatoes are properly softened, blend the soup at this point.

Simmer gently for another 5 minutes or so, stirring to avoid sticking. Then turn off the heat. Stir in the cream, add the za'atar then check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Depending on the stock you use you should find you don't need any salt. 

If you have time it's then best to take it off the heat for an hour or so to let the flavours meld. Aka "getting itself together." If you do so, bring it back up to serving temperature when needed but don't bring it back to the boil.

Serve accompanied by olive bread or a good crusty white bread. A final swirl of cream or creme fraiche will look nice in the bowl. Sprinkle of finely chopped parsley on top is also traditional.

Variations: you can use chestnut mushrooms instead of portabella but look for organic as the non-organic tend to have lots of colour but little taste. You'll find you need less porcini with good organic chestnut mushrooms. 

This should make about 2 litres but it will depend on how watery your vegetables are. Also do be aware that this recipe has been downscaled from our usual 10 litre recipe; it's been a long time since Elaine's made less than 10 litres at a time. So the final amount might be a bit off.

Finally, we would love to hear your comments about this. Did you make it? Did you change it? Do you have a favourite recipe for cream of mushroom soup that you would like to share?