I wanted to take a moment to thank you for being a member of the Leigh on Sea Supper Club family.  Right now as we fall into Tier 2, its pretty much impossible for me to cook for my lovely guests, so my emails are my virtual lifeline to you all!

I thought I would send out a new recipe for those cold, cold days!  At the weekend I had an abundance of mushrooms, it seemed the only thing to do, was make a soup.  My son made this and it was so delicious, that I wanted to share it with you!  If you love homemade soups this is  for you,  - as always tag us on instagram I love to see your dishes.

Wild Mushroom Soup 

I love mushrooms, if I can get them in to a recipe - I will!  This soup is perfect for winter!  Its indulgent and luxurious, with a velvety texture and the flavour is intense.  

If you can’t get hold of wild mushrooms, portobello or portobellini will work well, but do use the dried porcini, it really adds to the depth of flavour.  Honestly, if you like mushrooms this is for you!

Large tbsp of dried porcini

700g mixed wild mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

4 shallots thinly sliced

25g butter/ or good olive oi (for vegan alternative)l

4 sprigs of picked thyme leaves (if the stems are super soft all can be used, you just don’t want any woody stem!

1 litre of vegetable stock

Small bunch of flat leaf parsley

75ml of double cream / or oat cream / soy cream

½ lemon

Truffle oil (optional)

Stale bread for croutons (optional)

Boil a kettle, leave for a couple of minutes.

In a small bowl add your dried porcini and pour over hot water (about 150ml), you need to cover porcini plus a little more,  and leave to soak for 10 minutes.

Clean and slice your mushrooms.  (You don’t want to wash mushrooms if you can avoid it, simply use a small pastry brush to remove any loose soil or wipe with kitchen towel)

In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil, add your shallots and sweat till soft, but not taking on any colour (5 mins)

Add the butter, crushed garlic, mushrooms and thyme and a little salt and pepper, cook for 1 min stirring regularly to avoid any burning.

Carefully remove your porcini from the bowl, without disturbing the liquid too much (there will be a fine sediment at the bottom of the bowl that you don’t want in your soup!)

Then if you have a fine strainer, strain the liquid from the bowl and pour into the pan. Don’t worry if you haven’t just make sure you only tip ¾ of the liquid in to the pan.  You’ll be able to see the sediment, so its easy to do!

Once nearly all the cooking liquid has been absorbed in the pan, add the stock and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Taste your soup and season accordingly

To make the soup the right consistency puree in a blender till completely smooth, the soup takes on a slight sheen.  However, if you like your soup rustic simply blitz just half the soup and then combine with soup in the pan.

Before serving reheat add the cream and stir in whilst it heats up.

I add a quick squeeze of lemon, right at the end, not so that you can taste it in the soup, but it just helps bring out the earthy mushroomy flavour.

Add a tiny drizzle of truffle oil, (its intense so be careful)

CROUTONS

If you have the remnants of a loaf in the bread bin, dice into small cubes, in a bowl add a tspn of garlic puree, (simply smash a couple of cloves with a teaspoon of salt until nice and smooth) and enough olive oil to cover the croutons.  Then spread on to a baking tray and bake in the oven at a high heat till they turn golden crisp up (about 10mins)