Mushroom Soup

INGREDIENTS

800g mixed fresh mushrooms: Swiss browns, button or (right, clockwise from top left) hiratake, willow, shiitake, portobello

1 medium, brown skinned onion

120g salted butter, divided

50g flour

750ml full fat milk, divided

500ml chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

chopped chives (optional)

METHOD

1. Prepare the mushrooms: Wipe them clean with damp paper towels. Slice off the stems or root ends, dice into roughly 1cm cubes.

2. Peel the onion, chop finely, set aside.

3. In a large frying pan, heat 70g of the butter over medium heat. When it has melted, add the mushrooms and saute 3 to 4 minutes until they give off some liquid and are succulent. Turn off the heat, set aside.

4. In a medium pot, heat the remaining 50g of butter over medium heat. When it has melted, add the onions and saute quickly for 30 seconds. Turn heat down to medium low, cover the pot and let cook 8 minutes.

5. Add flour to the pot, mix well with the onions and butter and cook over medium low heat for 3 minutes. The mixture will clump up, that is fine. Just keep breaking the lumps up with a whisk and continue cooking.

6. In the meantime, heat 250ml of the milk in a saucepan until bubbles form at the edges, or in a microwave safe jug in the microwave on a high setting for 1 minute.

7. After the flour, onion and butter mixture has cooked for 3 minutes, remove pan from heat and pour in the hot milk, (above) whisking thoroughly to incorporate the milk into the roux mixture. Then add the remaining 500ml milk and the chicken stock, whisking to mix thoroughly (above).

8. Place the pot back on the stove, and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, whisking often to prevent the soup from scorching at the bottom of the pan.

9. Add the cooked mushrooms, stir to mix well, and cook another 15 minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often. The soup will thicken up.

10. Check for seasonings – add salt if needed, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

11. Ladle into bowls, top with chopped chives if using, and serve with warm bread.

Serves four to six