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