September 15, 2010

Mushroom Cappuccino

On a recent trip, Mushroom Hunting at Moorooduc, we were given a recipe for the luxurious mushroom cappuccino that was served up to us at the end of the tour. The 'cappuccino' component does not imply the use of coffee beans in the soup, but rather describes the way it is served in coffee cups, taking on the appearance of a frothy cappuccino.

When reproducing the soup at home, I served it in bowls, and chose not to froth up the mixture as much in the blender, so the result was quite a dense and luscious soup. However, I think I actually prefer the frothed up version, playfully served in a coffee cup. I've provided the recipe for it here, with a few tweaks to the original version, for a more flavoursome and foamy soup. I have also found that adding the cream to the soup, before blending it produces more froth, because the fatty components in the cream encourage aeration in the mixture.

Serves 5-6 bowls, 10-12 coffee cups:
- 500g button mushrooms, finely sliced
- 50g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 100ml warm water for 40min
- 60g unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbs parsley, finely chopped
- Sea salt and cracked white pepper
- 1L chicken stock
- 1 cup 45% fat cream (or your desired amount)
- 2 tbs truffle oil

Sliced Porcini mushrooms

Black Truffle Oil

Heat a large saucepan with the butter. Once the butter stars to foam, sauté the mushrooms until softened. Drain and squeeze dry the porcini mushrooms, reserving the liquid, and chop roughly (if they aren't already pre-sliced). Add to the button mushrooms, along with the parsley, garlic, pepper and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes.



Add the chicken stock and the reserved porcini liquid, bring to a gentle simmer and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes. (The dish can be prepared to this point ahead of time and reheated when required)

To finish the cappuccino, add the cream to the soup and bring back to the simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer the soup to a liquidiser and blend, in batches, until the mushrooms are amalgamated into a very smooth and frothy liquid.


For extra cappuccino foaminess, return the soup to a deep saucepan and heat until it is hot, just before boiling point. Then use a stick blender or a ba-mix to aerate the soup further.

Finish with the truffle oil. Serve the frothy soup immediately in a cappuccino cup, with crusty bread.

Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil

6 comments:

glamourette said...

this soup looks really good. I am a big lover of mushroom anything! just wondering if you can advise where you bought the porcini from? i know there must be some good italian grocers in Melbourne but I cannot find them! :(

Saucy Thyme said...

Thanks glamourette! I'm a sucker for mushrooms too! I bought my porcini from Jones the Grocer. I have also seen them at Colonial Fresh Food Markets in shopping centres. What area in Melbourne do you live in? There are some good Italian grocers on Sydney Road.

glamourette said...

I bought my one and only porcini from Jones the Grocer once when I was making risotto... but it was about $20 for $15g.... :( I am happy to travel anywhere for big bags of porcini ;) do you know the names of Italian grocers by any chance because I have a whole list of ingredients I want to buy. lol

Saucy Thyme said...

I am yet to come across a big bag of porcini! but when i do, i'll make sure to let you know about it :) I sometimes also buy porcini from a greengrocer called Psarakos (one in thornbury and one in bundoora). Colonial is in Westfield Doncaster. The porcini from these places is from Italy and costs around $7-$8 for 25g from memory. I'll double check it later this week when i go! Are you closer to the northern, eastern, western or southern suburbs?

Saucy Thyme said...

With the help of google, I found this site. I hope it is reliable because if you go to it and scroll down towards the bottom to the Middle Eastern section, it lists "Mediterranean Wholesalers" on 482 Sydney Road, Brunswick as a supermarket of Italian delights!

glamourette said...

I actually live about 10 mins away from Doncaster shoppingtown but i go to city alot as well. thanks so much for your help. I will def check it out and report back.