A simple mushroom and tarragon soup recipe

Beverley Hicks cooks up a winter warmer with an extra special surprise

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Beverley Hicks18 December 2015

A simple mushroom soup recipe made extra special by the delicate anise flavour of tarragon.

Ingredients (makes enough for 4 servings):

1 tablespoon butter

3 fat garlic cloves, minced

2 large banana shallots, finely sliced

500g chestnut mushrooms, chopped

500ml vegetable stock

1 teaspoon porcini mushroom powder

1 tablespoon dried tarragon

Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the garlic and shallots and cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the shallots have softened. Tip in the chopped mushrooms and stir to ensure the buttery onions are dispersed throughout the mushrooms. At this point the saucepan will be quite full but once the mushrooms have released their moisture they will reduce in volume considerably.

Stir in the vegetable stock, porcini mushroom powder and tarragon and mix well. Bring the soup to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Remove one cupful of soup and blend the rest with a stick blender until smooth and creamy. Add the reserved cup of soup back to the saucepan, stir and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with rye bread triangles and garnish with some sliced mushrooms fried in butter.

Notes:

Porcini mushroom powder gives a more intense mushroom flavour to this soup. You can easily make this yourself by blitzing dried porcini mushrooms in a spice mill. Any leftover powder can be stored in an airtight jar and will keep for months.

Nutritional info:

Per serving: Calories 161 | Protein 3.9g | Carbohydrates 18.7g | Fat 4.4g | Fibre 6.9g