One for the mushroom lovers out there, I’m giving you some grey soup on this very cold and overcast wintery day. If you don’t like mushies – sorry, you won’t like this soup. It is quite ‘mushroomy’ indeed and would make for a nice little starter at a dinner party or for a cas’ meat free Monday night in on the couch.
I’m a little obsessed with goats cheese too at the moment and usually team it up with some quince paste on a cheese board; I buy the fresh goats cheese dusted with ash. Now goats cheese and mushrooms go really well together and these goats cheese sourdough toasts are delicious. I love the crunchy texture you get when grilling the bread under a hot grill.
A simple little soup that is big on flavour, is a bit different and an absolute pleasure to eat (once you see past the grey colour Cork Daddy). Give it a go.
And if you haven’t bought goats cheese before – throw some in your trolley and see what you think.
cream of mushroom soup w goats cheese sourdough toasts (serves 4-6)
200 grams of button mushrooms, quartered
4 x large portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 x small brown onion, finely diced
2 x garlic cloves, crushed
1 x stick of celery, finely diced
A splash of white wine
2 x dessertspoons of plain flour
2 x cups of vegetable stock
200ml of thickened cream
3 x sprigs of fresh thyme, removed from the stalks
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
60 grams of butter
Sourdough, for serving
Goats cheese, for serving
- In a saucepan, add half the butter and sauté the onions, garlic and celery until softened.
- Add a dash of white wine and cook it off before adding the mushrooms to the pan.
- Add the rest of the butter, fresh thyme and season well with salt and pepper. Fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes or until they start to brown.
- Add the flour and stir, letting it cook off.
- Add the stock and bring to the boil.
- Back off to a low simmer and cook for another 20 minutes with the lid on.
- Blitz the soup using a bar mix and add the cream. Pop the soup back on the cooktop to heat through before serving.
Serve the soup with the goats cheese toasts.
- To make the goats cheese toasts, simply smear a generous amount of goats cheese over a slice of toasted sourdough and pop it under the grill for a couple of minutes until nicely browned on top.
Lo’s tips
- I buy the Meredith Dairy fresh goats cheese dusted in ash, available at Woolies.
- You could replace the Portobello mushrooms with Swiss brown mushrooms or Shiitake mushrooms instead.
- I use stock powder diluted in boiling water.
- It’s important to taste this soup to make sure that the seasoning is right. Add more salt and pepper if you need to.
If you make this soup, please leave your comments below. xx
lo's kitchen 