Mushroom Menu 2 - Wild Mushroom Soup

A soup made from fresh wild mushrooms:

  1. Collect 100g (about 1 lb) of wild mushrooms, for example in spring you could use a mixture of Morels (Morchella esculenta) and St George's Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa); in summer field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris), and Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius).
  2. Chop the mushrooms and coat the chunks with flour.
  3. Sauté in butter gently for five minutes.
  4. Stir in two cups of fresh milk and a cup of single cream.
  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Hydnum repandum

There is a wonderful range of good edible mushrooms to choose from, including several of the Boletes, most Agaricus mushrooms, all of the Chanterelles, and some of the large Parasol mushrooms.

Shown here is a group of Wood Hedgehog fungi, Hydnum repandum, which are ideal for this dish (and many others):

It is essential to make sure you know how to recognise the poisonous species, though. (Most edible fungi have lookalike Impostors that you will need to avoid.)