Mushroom soup brings back so many childhood memories. From early years sitting at family weddings and devouring it, loving every mouthful of the warm creamy texture and earthy salty flavour to it featuring on the menu at work Dinner Dances in my late teens and early twenties.
It’s one of those old style classics, although now I think we prefer to label it ‘Retro’! Either way it’s an absolute favourite of mine and it has to be creamy, made with a roux and hot milk and stock. Not the black watery sludge that has crept onto some menus in latter years!
I’m very lucky in where I live. We are surrounded by forests and natural beauty. I take much of my cooking inspiration from this. I’ve spoken many times of our love of foraging as a family. There’s something very special about heading off into the woods together and filling our little basket full of mushrooms. The youngest two are now 9 and I’m very aware that as they grow time spent with mom and dad in the deep dark woods will be replaced by time hanging with friends and girlfriends so I’m clinging to our precious moments together and treasuring them like never before.
I do hope that when they have outgrown our adventures in the woods that they will have a knowledge which they will hold onto and a treasure trove of memories to nurture as they grow older, then hopefully it will all come full circle and who knows…in years to come we could all be heading into the woods looking for supper and holding the little hands of the next generation of our family.
One of our recent after school treks yielded us some wonderful Chantrelles, Shaggy Ink Caps and Puff Balls. As it’s Autumn and the cooler weather has us seeking comfort, what better way to use these than in a ‘Wild Mushroom Soup’. You can always use regular mushrooms as I do when we don’t have Wild Mushrooms. Tarragon also works wonderfully in this if you don’t want to grind the dried mushrooms.
Seriously tho……a walk in the woods in Autumn sunshine, a basket of wild mushrooms and berries, mugs of comforting soup by the fire…..it’s how to get your ‘Hygge’ on this season!
Ingredients:
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 500g of mushrooms, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of flour
- 500ml of hot chicken stock
- 250 ml of milk, heated
- 2-3 tsp of ground dried mushrooms ( I put some dried porcini mushrooms in a coffee grinder with a pinch of salt and whizz to a fine powder )
- 1 tbsp of oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
- Heat the oil in saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, turn the heat down slightly, put the lid on and allow to sweat for around 5 minutes
- Add the mushrooms to the pan and let these to cook down for approximately another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once the mushrooms are cooked add the butter and allow it to melt before putting in the flour. Stir to make a roux and cook it for a minute or so, stirring constantly before adding the hot stock and milk.
- Season with Salt and Pepper add the ground porcini powder and allow to simmer gently for a few minutes.
- Once cooked blitz the soup and serve with a dollop of cream.
