Now is the time to enjoy fresh mushrooms – if you can forage them all the better! This soup is best with wild mushrooms. Everything is best with wild mushrooms.

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Girolles are fantastic in soup

Wild mushrooms have a strong flavour, and they can be expensive. So if you can’t forage mushrooms this recipe is just as good with 150 g farmed mushrooms to 150 g wild mushrooms. If you can’t get wild mushrooms at all add a handful of dried porcini mushrooms with the stock.

I can’t eat cream, so I have to remove it from recipes. In soup I use milk instead to give that creamy flavour, but if you are vegan you can leave this out. If you want to add that cream back to get a richer soup then replace the milk with 1-2 tbsp of single cream.

Ingredients

  • 300 g mushrooms, larger ones sliced, leave the smaller ones whole
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
  • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
  • 50 g tablespoon butter
  • a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
  • 500 ml vegetable stock
  • 50 ml milk (optional)
  • chopped parsley (optional)
  • truffle oil (optional)
  • ¼ lemon (optional)
  • Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Method

  • Melt the butter in a large saute pan and fry the mushrooms, garlic, onion and thyme at a medium to high heat until the mushrooms are cooked.
  • Take out a few of the prettiest mushrooms for garnish.
  • Season to taste, and add the stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, add the milk and stir.
  • Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, making sure it doesn’t boil.
  • Purée (easiest with a hand blender).

Serve

  • Serve in a bowl with the garnish mushrooms, chopped parsley, freshly ground black pepper, a squeeze of lemon and a few drops of truffle oil.
  • I made this for a friend as a starter – served in a shot glass with a whole mushroom, home-made parsnip crisps and a parsley tree.