 Can I freeze homemade mushroom soup for Easter? My lot like it as a starter and we thought we’d have it on Easter Day but I don't want to spend all morning preparing and cooking.
This makes an easy and deliciously simple mushroom soup. The secret to obtaining a good flavour is to use mushrooms with a robust flavour that isn’t easily diluted or softened during cooking. Some recipes use dried mushrooms to embolden the flavour, but these are expensive and not always available.
Mushroom ketchup is worth seeking out as it gives an excellent flavour and is great for bolstering and reinforcing mushroom flavour – use a little more if you are using up some less exciting fungi. A little dry sherry can be used instead as a substitute.
For the vegetable stock, I use the excellent Marigold Swiss Bouillon powder. If you have chicken stock to use up, that also works well, but then the purity of mushroom flavour is sacrificed. As you will be freezing the soup, omit the cream and parsley when making the soup, and add these when you gently re-heat it.
Ingredients
(Serves 6)
1oz (25g) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 plump clove of garlic, crushed
10oz (280g) chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2oz (55g) plain flour
2 pints (1.2litres) vegetable stock
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup (optional)
5fl oz (150ml) single cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Method
Melt the butter in a large pan and add the onion and stir on the simmering plate for two minutes. Add the crushed garlic, cover and transfer to the simmering oven for 15 minutes. Return to the simmering plate and add the mushrooms. Stir for three minutes until starting to soften, then stir in the flour and continue to cook for a further two minutes.
Pour over the stock, stirring as it’s added. Move to the boiling plate and bring almost to the boil. Transfer to the simmering plate and cook for five minutes before covering and transferring to the simmering oven for 45 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
Remove and allow it to cool for ten minutes, and then add the mushroom ketchup, if using. Purée in batches using, in order of preference, a liquidiser, wand blender or food processor. Return to the rinsed pan and bring to barely a simmer on the simmering plate. Stir in the cream and taste and adjust the seasoning. Stir in the parsley just before serving piping hot with crusty bread.
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