Get your hands on as wide a variety of mushrooms as possible for this warming soup.
At this time of year, Dig In has delicious earthy chestnut and closed-cup mushrooms in stock, and magnificently meaty portobellos. Dried mushrooms are also a great way of deepening the flavour. You can pick up a packet of dried oyster mushrooms in the shop that work fantastically here, though dried porcini and wild mushrooms will work well if you have them to hand.
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
25g butter
50g carrot, finely diced
50g shallot, finely diced
50g celery, finely diced
1 small fennel bulb (about 150g), finely diced
200g assorted fresh mushrooms, diced
10g dried mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
100ml white wine (optional)
500ml vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
10g parsley, finely chopped
75ml double cream
1 tsp tamari (or soy sauce)
Instructions
Rehydrate the dried mushrooms in a little hot water.
Melt the butter over a low-medium heat in a large saucepan and gently cook the carrot, shallot, celery and fennel until soft – around 15 minutes.
Stir in the fresh mushrooms and when they begin to soften add the garlic and fennel seeds. Cook for another two minutes.
Add the white wine (if using), bring to the boil and reduce until it’s almost completely gone.
Add the stock, bay leaf and the rehydrated mushrooms along with their water. Season with salt and pepper then bring to a simmer and cook gently for 20 minutes.
Add the parsley, double cream and tamari and stir through.
Take off the heat, fish out the bay leaf, and blitz with a hand blender or in a food processor until smooth. Add a splash more hot water if the soup is too thick. Season to taste and serve with a swirl of cream and a little more chopped parsley.