Wild Mushroom Soup with Madeira

This recipe sounds very long and drawn out, but not so. The base of the soup comes in the form of a ready-made, creamy mushroom sauce, and once you add the delectable flavour combination of fresh mushrooms, dried porcini and Madeira wine, the whole thing ends up tasting very classy.

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  Serves 4

Ingredients
¾ oz (20 g) dried porcini mushrooms
12 oz (350 g) dark-gilled mushrooms
1 x 350 g tub fresh wild mushroom sauce
1½ oz (40 g) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
5 fl oz (150 ml) dry Sercial Madeira
1 tablespoon fresh cream
2 small mushrooms, very thinly sliced, to garnish
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the croutons:
½ x 60 g pack Merchant Gourmet toasted garlic croûtons
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ clove garlic
1 heaped teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

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Method

Start off by pouring 1 pint (570 ml) boiling water over the porcini and leave them to soak for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the fresh mushrooms quite small in a food processor. Then take a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over a gentle heat, cook the onion for about 5 minutes, then stir in the mushrooms, giving them a good coating of butter. Keep the heat turned as low as possible and let the mushrooms and onion cook gently, without a lid, for about 20 minutes, giving them a stir now and then. After that, strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a sieve lined with a sheet of kitchen paper, and reserve the liquid. Chop the soaked porcini, then add them to the rest of the mushrooms along with the strained soaking water and the mushroom sauce. Season well, whisking to amalgamate everything, then add the Madeira. Bring everything up to a gentle simmer and leave to simmer gently, without a lid, for 40 minutes. All this can be done in advance and then reheated. Just before serving, stir in a little cream and garnish each bowl with thin slices of raw mushroom. Hand the croutons round separately. The croutons can also be prepared in advance. Heat up the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and the croutons, toss everything together until the croutons are a rich, golden-brown colour and drain on kitchen paper. Place them in a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley when they go on the table.

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