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Rich wild woodland mushroom soup
A thick, dark, thoroughly old-fashioned soup thickened with stale bread rather than flour. It was written for a big autumn haul of mixed woodland mushrooms and it is still the best way to use a basket of odds and ends.
Serves 6 · About 45 minutes
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Ingredients
- 900g mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
- 150g stale white bread, crusts removed, torn into pieces
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 sprigs thyme and 1 bay leaf
- 150ml single cream, plus 3 tbsp double cream, lightly whipped, to serve
- 2 tbsp dry sherry or madeira
- A good grating of nutmeg
- Salt and plenty of black pepper
Method
- Warm the olive oil in a large heavy pan and cook the onion gently for 10 minutes until soft and sweet. Add the garlic for the last minute.
- Turn the heat up and add the mushrooms with the thyme and bay. Cook hard, stirring, until they have released their liquid and that liquid has boiled away again - eight to twelve minutes. Do not rush this stage; it is where the flavour comes from.
- Set aside a couple of spoonfuls of the cooked mushrooms if you want something to put back in at the end.
- Add the stock and the torn bread, bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. The bread will collapse completely and thicken the soup.
- Fish out the bay leaf and the thyme stalks. For a smooth soup, liquidise thoroughly; for a chunkier one, blitz about half and leave the rest.
- Return to the pan, stir in the single cream and the sherry, and warm through without boiling. Season generously with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Serve with a spoonful of lightly whipped double cream on top, the reserved mushrooms, and a final grind of pepper.