Cream of Mushroom Soup with Crispy Oyster Mushrooms

• 125 g white mushrooms
• 125 g portobello mushrooms
• 100 g oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 2 tbsp butter (divided)
• 10 g garlic, chopped
• Stock: 1 stock cube and about 300 ml water (or 300 ml chicken or vegetable stock)
• 100 ml cream
• a pinch of paprika
• a little cayenne pepper
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• freshly grated cheddar (or Parmesan), to serve (about 1 tbsp a bowl)
• fresh basil, chopped, to serve

Method

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1. Pull the stalks off the white and portobello mushrooms and keep them; slice the caps. 0:42
2. Fry the oyster mushrooms in a little olive oil and a knob of butter with salt, pepper and cayenne, leaving them alone until their water cooks off and they brown and crisp. Set aside for the garnish. 1:21
3. In a saucepan heat a little olive oil and butter and cook the garlic until it starts to colour. Add the stalks and a handful of the sliced caps, season with the stock cube, pepper, paprika and cayenne, and cook until they release their liquid. 2:33
4. Add about 300 ml water and cook until the mushrooms are soft, then blend until smooth. 3:44
5. In the same pan melt the rest of the butter and fry the remaining sliced caps over high heat until they give up their liquid. 3:58
6. Pour the blended soup through a sieve into the pan and simmer until the sliced mushrooms are tender. Stir in the cream and take off the heat. 4:26
7. Serve topped with grated cheese, the crispy oyster mushrooms and chopped basil. 5:00

Tip. Add as much or as little cream as you like (the cook's advice). A stock cube is optional — chicken or vegetable stock, or water and salt, work too. Any hard cheese works on top.

The method is a summary in our words — the video shows every step.