Soups & stews
Mushroom and Madeira soup with thyme and truffle oil
A creamy vegetarian soup bursting with earthy flavour. This calls for a few special ingredients, but if you don't have Madeira, sherry is a decent substitute; and though truffle oil makes the soup extra nice it isn't essential. Even more depth of flavour is given by 10g of dried porcini, soaked in water for 5 minutes then added with the fresh mushrooms.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 leeks, white part only, finely sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 450-500g mushrooms, wiped and roughly sliced
- ½ tsp nutmeg, ground or grated
- leaves of 3 sprigs thyme
- 800ml chicken or veg stock
- 100-150ml Madeira, to taste
- 100-150ml double cream
- handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
- few drops truffle oil (optional)
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
In a large pan, sweat the onion and leeks in the olive oil until soft.
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Step 2
Add the garlic and mushrooms, cook until mushrooms are soft and reduced. Add the nutmeg and thyme and cook for another minute. Blend or process the mushroom mix with a ladle of stock until smooth. Return to the pan, add the remaining stock, Madeira and half the cream.
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Step 3
Reheat the soup and season. Adjust the thickness with more cream or water to taste. Stir in the chopped parsley. Serve with a further swirl of cream if you like and a few drops of truffle oil if using.
