Wild mushroom soup with truffle oil dressing

Photographer: Adam
Makes 6-8 good sized bowls

Portobello, Oyster, Shiitake, White, Crimini, Button, Dried, Fresh, Maitake, Enoki, girolles, trompettes de mort, Chanterelle, golden needle.. All these beautiful words sound like something out of a fairytale. They spill out of your mouth with such ease and sound so lovely to the ear. I almost feel guilty about eating such beautiful sounding food!

However…I have always eaten mushrooms (and olives – what a strange child I must have appeared to be!) my favourite way; mixed in fresh pasta or as a homemade soup.

But alas, the perfect mushroom soup is a bit like that elusive ‘perfect chocolate cake’ – everyone has a recipe, but there is something in there, in the method, or ingredients which, when the cake is finally eaten makes it…well… not quite right; too dry, too heavy, too light, not chocolatety enough – I could go on!

I have tried countless times to make a perfect mushroom soup, but never remember to write it down because I forgot what went in it, or it wasn’t quite right, so I have spent time in the kitchen, creating, what I believe to be; The perfect mushroom soup.

INGREDIENTS


1kg mushrooms
-600g fresh mushrooms medley (as many varieties as you can find)
-400g of soaked, dry mushrooms


100g unsalted butter
200g red onion, finely chopped
2 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped
1L vegetable stock
2 glugs of truffle oil (+ a bit more for decorating)
2 heaped tsp porcini crème
50g fresh breadcrumbs
Up to 250ml water or milk
A handful of chopped chives
A handful of parsley.

METHOD


1. From your mushroom variety, select a handful of whole, small, delicate mushrooms and place to one side. These will become part of the decoration later.
2. Roughly chop all the remaining mushrooms and split into thirds. Add 1/3 to the food processor and blend to a fine paste. Once this is achieved, remove and place into a separate bowl.
3. Add the remaining 2/3rds of mushrooms to processor and blend until mushrooms are finely blitzed, the size of breadcrumbs. Once achieved, place into the bowl with the mushroom paste.
4. Melt the butter in a large pot and add the finely chopped onion and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are nice and soft, and slightly coloured.
5. At this stage, add all the blended mushrooms to the pot, along with approximately 100ml of vegetable stock.
6. Reduce heat, and allow mushrooms to heat slowly for 5 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally to stop any catching.
7. After an additional 5 minutes, add 500ml of vegetable stock and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
8. After this time, add the remaining vegetable stock , 2 glugs of truffle oil and 2 heaped teaspoons of porcini crème. Stir well. Allow to cook on a low heat for a further 15 minutes. (the soup should be gently boiling)
9. I like quite a thick, textured mushroom soup, so at this stage I added 50g of fresh breadcrumbs and 100ml more water(you could substitute this with milk if you prefer) and cooked for a further 5 minutes. However, this is all dependant on your preferred consistency. This soup could take an additional 250ml water/milk (as mentioned in the ingredients section) depending on your preference.
10. On a low heat, add 2 tbsp of truffle oil to a small frying pan. Once heated, quickly add your decoration mushrooms and toss for 1-2 minutes.
11. Serve the soup into bowls and decorate with mushrooms, a drizzle of truffle oil, chopped chives and parsley.