From Australian
Gourmet Traveller, May 1999.
I’m living by myself for a week. This is a
time when it is so easy to relax your usual standards and just pick up fast
foods. I’ve resolved not to, so I’ll see how long I last. What I generally turn
to when on my own is to make a large pot of soup that will last for several
days, or make a big curry from all the vegetables in the refrigerator. Today I
settled for soup.
I took a handful of dried porcini mushrooms
and covered them with boiling water and left them to stand while I went on with
the remainder.
I sliced 400g mixed mushrooms and fried them
until soft in butter. They were taken from the frying pan and put aside while I
sautéed a chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. When these had softened
the mushrooms went back into the pan with the porcini mushrooms and their
water. I added water to a level I felt appropriate and a vegetarian chicken stock
cube. This was all brought to the boil and then simmered until the mixture had
reduced about one-third.
The soup was tasted for seasoning and
adjusted with salt and a goodly amount of freshly cracked black pepper. About
100ml cream was added and the soup simmered for another 15 minutes.
A stick blender was now used to puree the
soup. It was served with a couple of slices of toasted sourdough.
A satisfying soup that managed to last me for
two meals.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of
cooking:
✔✔✔✔
