Alas, September has arrived, and having pitifully squeezed out only a handful of sunny days, the British sun has said 'fuck it', and pissed off back to California for another year. Well fuck you sun. We're looking forward to autumn here anyway, and the increasingly chilly weather is a perfect opportunity for a bit of delicious soup!
Mushroom is a brilliant soup. Fact. From it's retro 'Heinz Cream of' guise, to a fancy wild-mushroom concoction, it's always pretty tasty. September is also prime mushroom season, so you can pick some good ones up on the cheap at the market, as well as scoring ethical brownie points by buying local, seasonal food.
You can stick whatever mushrooms you find or fancy in this, but the wilder the mushroom, the deeper the flavour. I threw some oyster mushrooms I got in Borough market into a stir fry this weekend, and the flavour was unbelievable.
Of course, you can use those closed cup jokers from the supermarket, but the taste won't be as good. If you don't get a chance to go to the market and seek out fancy ones, I'd go for a mixture of massive field mushrooms, and chesnut mushrooms that you can pick up in most supermarkets.
Ingredients (serves 4)
500g of a selection of shrooms of your choice
1 litre of vegetable stock (made from instant is fine)
100mls single cream
1 small knob of butter
1 clove of garlic
1 small onion
1 bay leaf
loads of black pepper
Directions
Finely chop the onions and mushrooms. Heat the butter in a saucepan (for which you have a lid) and slowly sweat the onion for 5mins until soft and lightly browned.
Throw in the mushrooms and crush in the garlic clove, and continue to fry on a low heat for about 10mins, until you get a slightly gooey, mushroom and onion mixture. The mushrooms soak up the butter really quickly, so you may need to add a splash of water (or white wine if you have it!) to stop them sticking.
Add a load of black pepper and the bay leaf, and pour over the stock. Place a lid on the pan and simmer gently for 15mins.
Now you must blend the soup. Blend a small bit at a time in a proper blender, or stick a hand blender in the pan. If using a hand blender ensure you stick the blade right to the bottom of the pan to prevent splashing hot liquid everywhere.
Stir in the cream, taste and add more pepper if needed. Fish out the bay leaf, and serve with warm hunks of brown crusty bread.
Image via BBC Good Food