Jamie Oliver Mushroom Soup Food

MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• Ingredients out • Kettle boiled • Oven grill on high • Large lidded pan, medium heat • Griddle pan, high heat • Stick blender
• START COOKING Peel, halve and finely slice the onions and put them into the large pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Crumble in the stock cube, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, strip in the thyme leaves and squash in 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic through a garlic crusher.
• De-stalk the chestnut mushrooms and place the tops on the griddle pan, turning when charred.
• Tear the chestnut stalks and portobellos into the onion pan, add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in 1 litre of boiling water and boil with the lid on.
• Cut 4 slices of ciabatta at an angle and add to the griddle pan. When charred on both sides, rub with a halved garlic clove.
• Coarsely grate or slice the apple into matchsticks and toss with the roughly chopped parsley and a little lemon juice.
• Place the chestnut mushrooms on the toasts, crumble over the stilton and walnuts, then pop under the grill until the cheese is melted.
• Use the stick blender to purée the soup to a consistency you like, then season to taste, if needed, and swirl in the cream and truffle oil.
• Top the toasts with pinches of apple and parsley and serve on the side.

THE REAL MUSHROOM SOUP

Steps:

• Place the porcini in a small dish, add boiling water just to cover, and leave to soak. Get a large casserole-type pan nice and hot, then add a good couple of lugs of olive oil and your fresh mushrooms. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion and thyme and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms and at this point add half of your porcini, chopped up, and the rest left whole. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit, and add it to the pan. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.
• Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. I usually remove half the soup from the pan and whiz it up to a purée at this point, then pour it back in, adding the parsley and mascarpone, and seasoning carefully to taste.
• You can serve this soup as you like, but there are a few things to remember when finishing it off. Mix together a pinch of salt and pepper with the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of it, then spoon a little of this into the middle of the soup. When you go to eat it, stir it in and it gives a wonderful flavour. Other things you can consider are little slices of grilled crostini put into the bottom of the bowls before the soup is poured over. Or you could even quickly fry some nice-looking mushrooms - like girolles, chanterelles or oysters - and sprinkle these on top of the soup. If I was going to use truffle oil, then I would use it on its own - a few drips on the top just before serving. • adapted from Jamie's Dinners

CREAMY MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• ;
• Preheat your oven to its lowest setting and pop the loaf of bread in to warm through.
• Spend a few minutes gently brushing along the underside of the mushrooms to get rid of any bugs and dirt that might be hiding there. This is well worth the effort. Finely chop your parsley, stalks and all, reserving a few of the leaves.
• Put the butter into a large hot pan and as soon as it starts to melt add a drizzle of olive oil, the mushrooms, sliced onion, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir everything around and cook for about 8 minutes, or until the onions have softened and the mushrooms are starting to caramelize and take on colour.
• Add the chopped parsley, then pour in the cream. Continue to stir and cook for another minute, until the cream has come to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for a minute before removing from the heat. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice, have a taste, and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice if it needs it.
• Take your bread out of the oven and tear it into big chunks. Divide the mushrooms among the plates and scatter over the reserved parsley leaves. Serve with the chunks of bread on the side to mop up all the creamy mushroomy juices, and tuck in!