Mushroom and Madeira soup with thyme and truffle oil

Soups & stews

Mushroom and Madeira soup with thyme and truffle oil

Name: Mushroom and Madeira soup with thyme and truffle oil
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4

Soup Serves 4 30 min

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

Prep time: 10 min

Cooking time: 20 min

Step 1
In a large pan, sweat the onion and leeks in the olive oil until soft.
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.
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.