Mushroom Soup
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Mushroom Soup
1 Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
Quite a lot of butter
A big tray of mushrooms on sale cheap
Some dried mushrooms
A sprinkling of chopped parsley
A little cream
Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover in water to rehydrate them. Clean the mushrooms – the less water the better so a brush or damp cloth work best. If you’re going to wash them let them dry off before cooking. Finely chop the onions and garlic. Using a very big pan melt a big knob of butter (maybe bigger than that?) and start to soften the onions and garlic.
Cut up the mushrooms. Save a few of the nicest ones for slicing as a garnish. You’ll probably have to cook them a few handfuls at a time, as they have to cook down to fit in the pan. Eventually they’ll be softened. Add the refreshed dried mushrooms, and the mushroom water, then enough water to cover them all. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for half an hour.
Blend the soup in a manner that seems best to you*. Bring back to the boil then serve, with a sprinkling of parsley, an elegant swirl of cream and the thinnest slices of mushroom you can make floating on top.
* This has been orphaned from a piece of historical research. For full 19th century flavour, get a muslin or tammy-cloth and strain it, pushing as much pulp through as you can. In my research no one suggests doing this except historical recreationists; using a blender of some sort is the favoured method (though some very posh chefs would strain it again afterwards).
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