Organic mushroom soup with lemon and thyme

I love organic mushrooms. They are so versatile yet, at least in my opinion, highly undervalued in most kitchens. If you’ve got family and friends who adhere to vegetarian principles, then mushrooms provide a great focal point for a number of brilliant mains. Unfortunately, I find that most recipes involving mushrooms are often so overdone that the delicate and subtle flavours embodied in the mushrooms tend to be overpowered by an annoying array of flavours.

I keep telling people, if you start with fresh organic produce, there’s no need to distract people’s attention away from it. That’s what I like about this particular recipe. The flavours contained in this soup are sufficiently subtle that the wonderful aromas and textures of the mushrooms are given every opportunity to win the race to your taste buds and leave you feeling as though you’ve died and gone to heaven. Today’s recipe is all about a soup that uses the freshest organic mushrooms you can lay your hands on. Let’s get started.

Ingredients

• 1 organic onion
• 1 clove of organic garlic
• 2 medium organic potatoes
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin organic olive oil
• 250g organic button (white cap) mushrooms
• 4 cups of organic chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme
• 3cm strip of lemon rind
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)

Method

Peel the onion and chop finely. Peel, chop and crush the garlic in a press. Peel the potatoes and chop into roughly 1cm cubes. Place them in a bowl of water at room temperature until ready to use. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and potatoes for about 5 minutes to release their flavours. Add the washed mushrooms to the saucepan and sauté for a further 2 minutes. Add the stock, lemon rind and thyme. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the lemon rind. Remove approximately half of the soup and puree in a food processor or blender. Add the pureed soup mix to the saucepan and reheat. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with sour cream, and serve with water crackers. Enjoy.