Simple Mushroom Soup

A couple of days ago I had a great fancy for soup and upon looking through the cupboards and deciding that none of the canned soups took my fancy (cream of tomato and cream of mushroom being the two options) so decided to make my own.
Granted this meant I had to wait for an extra day before I got my soup as I then had to go and buy the necessary ingredients that I didn't already have, but it's always fun to look for different types of veg to put in. I never realized how many different types of mushroom my local supermarket had!

The soup makes enough for about 4 people, but could easily stretch to 5 or 6 depending on portion sizes. For me it would last about 8 servings if I didn't share it with my family.

You will need:
25g dried porcini mushrooms
250ml warm water 
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp butter
2 leeks sliced thinly
225g fresh mushrooms (I used a mixture of pink, yellow and regular oyster mushrooms and shitake mushrooms)
1.2l vegetable stock
1/2tsp dried thyme
150ml double cream (here I used Oatly Healthy Oat Cream)
salt and black pepper


Soak the porcini in the warm water for about 30 minutes, I used this time to chop up the fresh mushrooms and the leeks, remove the porcini from the water, strain them as best you can and chop them up too. Retain the water, as you'll use it later; it should be a rather horrendous looking brown by now.

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, gently cook the leeks and garlic for about five minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the chopped fresh mushrooms to the pan, stir over a medium heat until they soften then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the porcini and the water in which they were soaked. Stir and season with salt and pepper.

Lower the heat, half cover with the lid and simmer gently for half an hour, stirring occasionally.

Blend about 3/4 of the soup in a food processor until smooth. Return it to the pan, add the cream and mix. Heat through and adjust seasoning to taste. Serve hot with crusty bread on a cold evening.



I was a bit apprehensive about this recipe as when you first add the salt and pepper it does taste a little bit like a weak leek soup with some floating mushrooms, but be sure, once the cream is added it becomes bliss. And it takes so little effort to make, as well as so little time, there's no excuse for not trying it!

It'll last in the fridge for a couple of days, as long as no one eats it first, so it can easily be made in the morning, put in the fridge and simply reheated on the hob for dinner when you get home.

An Introduction Of Sorts

Well hi I guess!
I'm Jen and this, as you may well have guessed, is the first post of my blog. My first no less, so be nice!

Shall we start with some useless facts?

I'm an art student specializing in fashion, currently at college and will be for the next year and a half.
I love all things fluffy and cute; and not fluffy and not so cute too.
If I were to study an area of animals it would be reptiles.
I'm a vegetarian and have been since I was about nine.
I prefer outdoors to anything else.
I have my tongue pierced twice.

I plan to use this to document my time at college, my transition from vegetarian to vegan, and everything in between.

Until then I leave you with one of my favorite songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7k1rWZQbbU