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Soup of toasted roots with porcini toast
Serves 6 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- handful of dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 medium onions
- 3tbsp olive oil
- 1 large knob of butter
- 600g parsnips (or 2 large ones)
- 1.2 litres of stock
- 1 rib of celery, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and squashed
For the porcini toast
- handful of dried porcini mushrooms
- small bunch of parsley, leaves picked
- 1 small garlic clove
- handful of walnuts, chopped
- 50g butter
- 6 pieces interesting bread, toasted
Method
Soak the porcini in about 300ml of warm water for 30 minutes.
Peel the onions, chop roughly and put in a heavy-based pan with the oil and butter. Cook until soft and translucent, stirring regularly. Peel the parsnips and cut them into large chunks. Add them to the pan and let them colour lightly on all sides. They need to be evenly but gently toasted – a pale honey gold rather than mahogany brown. This will take 7-10 minutes with the occasional stirring.
Pour in the stock, then add the celery, garlic, porcini and their soaking water. Season and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down so that the soup simmers for about 40 minutes.
This is a soup best eaten smoothly puréed, so push it all through the blender until smooth. Check the seasoning; it may need more salt and pepper. Serve with the toasts below if you wish.
To make the toasts, soak the porcini in the warm water for 30 minutes. Squeeze dry, then chop together with the parsley and garlic. Stir in the walnuts. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the mixture and stir until warm and fragrant. Spoon on to the pieces of toast and float them on top of your soup.
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