Easy Mushroom Soup

Serves 4 (main course) or 6 (starter)

Ingredients:
250g Fresh portabello mushrooms – wiped and sliced
250g button mushrooms – wiped and sliced (Keep 4-6 small mushrooms aside for later)
15g dried Porcini mushrooms – roughly broken up in a bowl
250ml boiling water – pour over the dried mushrooms and leave to soak
4 large leeks – finely sliced and washed well to remove any sand
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
10 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped off, twigs discarded
50ml olive oil
15ml butter
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1,5 litres chicken or veg stock
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley – washed and chopped (keep 5ml for garnishing later)
100g mascarpone
1 lemon, finely grated zest & juice
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on soup when serving

Method:

1. Place a large saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil, butter and add leeks. Saute until leeks are limp.
   Add the sliced fresh mushrooms and the garlic and thyme and sauté until the liquid from the mushrooms is almost evaporated.
2. Strain the soaking liquid from the dried porcini mushrooms, add mushrooms and the liquid from them to the pan, being careful not to add the last few drops as they usually have a bit of grit in them from the mushrooms.
3. Add the stock and a grinding of black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover partially and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and using a stick blender blend the soup in the saucepan until it is smooth (use a regular blender if you don’t have the stick blender).
5. Return soup to the heat, season to taste with salt and more pepper if needed and stir in the parsley (keep 5ml back for garnishing).
6. Finely grate lemon zest, set aside and squeeze juice into the soup. Stir through the mascarpone and season to taste. You want a good balance of salt, pepper, sour from the lemon, sweet creaminess from the mascarpone and the earthiness of the mushrooms.
7. Using the last few whole mushrooms slice them thinly then add a knob of butter to a small frying pan and add the mushrooms together with a roughly bashed clove of garlic (I don’t even peel it – just use as is).
   Saute until the mushrooms are brown and crisp, but not burnt. Discard the garlic and drain the mushroom slices on paper towel.
8. Add 5ml finely chopped parsley and some finely grated lemon zest, black pepper and salt flakes to the mushrooms – mix together and set aside for garnishing the soup.

To serve:
Ladle hot soup into warmed soup bowls and sprinkle a bit of the mushroom mixture on top of the soup in each bowl.
Drizzle a few drops of extra virgin olive oil onto each bowl and serve with crispy croutons or bread sticks.

Recipes courtesy of www.browniegirlblog.com