Print it
Original Italian name: Zuppa di porcini
Place of origin: Tuscany, Central Italy
Italian people are passionate about mushrooms. In Central Italy -Umbria and Tuscany, mushrooms pickers comb the wooded areas from late summer to the end of autumn. The best and most popular wild mushroom is porcini which is just one of the many available edible mushrooms varieties. Chanterells, saffron milk cap, honey agaric and numerous other kinds can be found beneath trees. In some Italian areas the enthusiasm to gather autumn mushrooms so high thatpractically every local is engaged. As a result the Italian authorities were obliged to place an official restriction on the amount of mushroom allowed for collection. One person can collect per day only six and a half pounds (three kilograms) wild mushrooms.
Italian kitchen is famous for dishes with wild mushrooms. The most popular meals are wild mushrooms soup, Mushroom ragout, Tangy mushroom garlic sauce, Farfalle with mushrooms and cheese; Ricotta and Fontina pizza.
The wild mushroom soup is simple first course that can be great to serve for lunch all year using combination of fresh and dried varieties of wild mushrooms. Making this soup I used only one kind of wild mushrooms -fresh collected saffron milk cap (red pine mushrooms) and the result was perfect. Creamy mushroom taste with fresh thyme flavour is light, fresh and delicious.
In case of using dried mushrooms, put them in a bowl, add warm water (1 cup warm water per 2 cups of dried mushrooms). Then leave to soak for 30 minutes. Lift out of the liquid and squeeze over the bowl to remove as mush of the soaking liquid as possible. Strain all the liquid and reserve to use later adding to the soup. Finely chop the mushrooms.
Wild mushroom soup
Preparation time – 5min
Cooking time – 50 min
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
400 g fresh mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 leeks, thinly sliced
2 shallots, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
around 1,5 litres (6 cups) beef of mushroom stock
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
150ml (2/3 cup) double cream
salt and freshly ground back pepper
fresh thyme springs for garnish
Method
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add the sliced leeks, chopped shallots and garlic and cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened but not coloured.
Slice fresh mushrooms and add to the pan. Stir over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. In case of using dried mushrooms, add the sliced presoaked mushrooms, soaking liquid, dried thyme, salt and pepper. Half cover the pan, simmer gently for 30 minutes over a low heat stirring occasionally.
Pour about tree-quarters of the soup into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Return to the soup remaining in the pan, stir in the cream and heat until boiling. Check the consistency and add more stock if the soup is too thick.
Taste for seasoning. Serve hot, garnish with fresh thyme springs.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed Print it
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
this soup must by real good… i must try it… thanx
@ k8jo -Welcome to my blog and thanks for the comment!