Recipe - Wild Mushroom Soup With Port

1 ounce Dried mushrooms
7 fl Hot water for soaking dried
mushrooms
2 ounce Butter or margarine
6 ounce Onions; peeled and minced
4 Cloves garlic; crushed
1 ounce Shitake mushrooms
One half teaspoon Grain mustard
3 ounce Mixed wild mushrooms
4 fl Port*
2 pt Rich vegetable stock
10 fl Double cream
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper
* crusted port

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes until reconstituted
and set aside. Retain the soaking liquid. Place the butter in a saucepan
and melt over a gentle heat. Add the minced onion and saut‚ with the garlic
until brown.

Add the cut or sliced up shitake mushrooms and saut‚ for a further 56 minutes. Now
add the washed and trimmed wild mushrooms and saut‚ again, stirring
regularly, for another 34 minutes. Next, add the dried mushrooms and pour
in the liquid they have been soaking in, using a piece of muslin to catch
any remaining grit. Add half the port and continue to cook, adding some of
the stock and allowing it to reduce by about a half. Then blend the soup in
an electric blender until smooth and return to the pan. Now add the double
cream and bring gently to the boil. Add the remaining port and continue to
simmer for a couple of minutes. Finally pour in the remaining stock, add
the mustard, adjust the seasoning, stir well and serve.

Converted by MC_Buster.

NOTES : This is a good way of making a relatively small number of wild and
dried mushrooms go a long way. It is a very rich soup and you won't need
huge quantities of it.

Converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.