Recipe Tip: Porcini and Chestnut Soup

Top Recipe. All ingredients and tips for getting it right. This earthy autumn soup is garnished with roasted hazelnuts and cocoa powder.

Ingredients

• 10 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 1 clove(s) garlic, peeled
• 300 g peeled, cooked chestnuts, vacuum packed or from a tin
• 500 g mixed fresh mushrooms (porcini, chestnut mushrooms, shiitake)
• 4 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 sprig(s) thyme
• 100 ml white wine
• 900 ml vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 handful hazelnuts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt
• black pepper

Steps

1. In a pot, pour 200 ml of hot water over the dried mushrooms and bring to the boil for at least 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let soak for 10 minutes.
2. Cut onion into half rings and the garlic into fine slices. Dice chestnuts. Strip the thyme leaves and chop finely.
3. Clean the mushrooms. Cut 400g of the mushrooms (leaving 100g for later on) into large pieces. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan, then sauté onions and garlic until translucent.
4. Add chestnuts, fresh mushrooms and thyme and sauté for 2 minutes, seasoning lightly with salt. Deglaze with white wine and boil down to reduce the wine to a thick consistency.
5. Pour in the stock, add the soaked mushrooms and the strained soaking water. Bring everything to the boil, then cover and cook over a low heat for 15 - 20 minutes until soft.
6. Take the remaining 100g of mushrooms and cut into slices. Chop the hazelnuts, toast them in a dry pan and set aside.
7. Heat a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter in a non-stick frying pan and fry the remaining mushrooms until light brown all over, season with salt and pepper and reserve for the garnish.
8. Add the cream to the soup and puree everything with a hand blender (or whip the cream until stiff and serve the soup with a dollop of cream).
9. Serve and garnish with the fried mushrooms, toasted hazelnuts and a sprinkle of cocoa powder.