Mushroom Soup

This is my 100th blog post! I know what you’re thinking, “She’s taking her time!” I’m still more or less meeting my goal of one post a week so I’m happy with that. My first post was for Mushroom Risotto  so it seems fitting to have Mushroom Soup for this one.

I took a trip to Midleton Farmers Market last weekend and I picked up some lovely shittake mushrooms and Mushroom Ketchup from the Ballyhoura Mushrooms stand. I had never even heard of Mushroom Ketchup but I was assured it adds a lovely depth of flavour to soups and stews. And it really does. I had some field mushrooms already at home from the Chicken Pie  so I went straight home to make this soup.

Any recipe I’ve seen for Mushroom Soup in past adds Marsala wine or Madeira, which I don’t have. So I used some sherry instead. The old lady that I am, I always have sherry to hand 🙂 If you don’t have the ketchup, don’t worry. It is a very rich flavoured soup anyway without it. Make sure to use suitable stock if you want to keep this vegetarian.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 10g dried porcini mushrooms
• 300g mixed fresh mushrooms – I used 200g of regular field mushrooms and 100g of shiitake mushrooms
• 30g butter
• 1 stick of celery, finely diced
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp. of sherry or Marsala wine
• 300ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp. mushroom ketchup (optional)
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 tbsp double cream, plus more for garnish.

Method:

• Put the porcini mushrooms into a small bowl and cover with some boiling water, just enough so that they are completely covered.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
• Finely slice the fresh mushrooms while the onions and celery are cooking.
• Add the crushed garlic to the pan and cook for another minute.
• Add the finely sliced mushrooms and sherry. Turn up the heat and cook until the alcohol has cooked off.
• Reduce the heat again and pour in the stock and mushroom ketchup (if using).  Add the thyme.
• Take the soaked porcinis out of the water, add the water to the pan and chop up the porcinis and add them to the pot too. Season with salt and pepper.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes.
• After it has simmered, remove the thyme leaves and pour the soup into a blender or use a hand blender to get the soup to the consistency you want. I like it blended to be completely smooth.
• Pour it back into the pot. Add water if you want a thinner soup and pour in the double cream. Taste to see if it needs further seasoning. Serve immediately with a very retro swirl of double cream and some fresh parsley to garnish.