Wild Mushroom Soup

What better way for a forager to warm up on a cold winter's day than with a delicious mug of soup made from their forged mushrooms. This simple recipe is always a hit on autumn foraging courses

Wild mushroom soup made with foraged wild mushrooms - garnished with wood sorrel and hairy bittercress

I have been meaning to get round to putting this recipe online for some time. This wild mushroom soup often features as one of the samples in my Autumn foraging courses. Shamefully, given that it is so simple, I have not had the time until now to post it online. But, at last, here it is.

It can be dressed up as much as the cook requires, but is equally delicious as it is.

Recipe ingredients - makes 1.2 litres

200 - 250g mixed wild mushrooms

1litre mushroom stock

1 large onion

2tsp pureed garlic

salt and pepper

20g butter or 15ml oil

Method

1. Roughly chop the onion and mushrooms

2. Add the oil or butter to a large pan over a low heat

3. Add the chopped onion and the pureed garlic and gently soften for around five minutes

4. Add the chopped mushroom to the pan and continue to slowly cook over a medium heat until the mushrooms are also softened (5-10 mins)

5. Season well with pepper

6. Add in the mushroom stock (if you don't have your own stock, shop bought cubes will do). If your stock is not very salty, you may also wish to season a little with salt at this stage

7. Bring to the boil for 5 mins, then simmer for 20 mins

8. Turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool

9. Once cooled, blend the soup using a stick blender or by transferring into a blender

10. Reheat to serve

11. Add up to 200ml of cream/soya cream/oat cream and stir well just before servings for a luxurious foraged mushroom treat

This soup works very well with sour dough to dunk in it. You can liven things up a bit by adding herbs - thyme and sage work well - or thicken it up with potato. Depending on how many mushrooms you decide to use, and what sort of mushrooms they are, will determine the thickness of this soup.

For a something a little more chunky and rustic, use a pulse blending option.

The great thing about this soup is, the flavour changes depending on what mushrooms are used. But I have yet to taste one that isn't yummy!

Discover more wild edibles and recipes on a foraging course

A nice selection of foraged edible winter mushrooms for making soup - velvet shanks, grey oyster mushrooms, and field blewits. The flavour of the soup will be determined by the mushrooms used

Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!