Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 650g mixed cultivated mushrooms (big browns, portabellos, portabellinis, buttons etc)
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 Tbsp white miso paste
- 1 Tbsp fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1 litre / 4 cups vegetable or mushroom stock
- ½ cup / 80g raw cashew nuts
Crispy sage leaves:
- 1 handful of fresh sage leaves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Olive oil, for cooking
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method:
- Roughly chop the different mushrooms.
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot.
- Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown and their moisture has evaporated.
- Scoop out a few golden brown mushrooms for topping the soup when serving. Set aside.
- Add onion and cook until softened.
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add vinegar and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock, and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Stir in the miso paste and season with salt and pepper.
- Simmer for 5 minutes for all the flavours to come together.
- Place cashew nuts in the jug of a blender.
- Scoop out half of the soup and add it to the blender.
- Begin blending on very low speed and work up to high until the soup is completely smooth.
- (Be careful when blending hot liquids – make sure you allow the steam to escape out the top of the jug)
- Return the blended soup to the pot, and stir to combine.
- Taste to adjust seasoning.
- Just before serving make some crispy sage leaves.
- Place the ¼ cup olive oil in a small saucepan.
- Heat until a test leaf sizzles immediately in the oil.
- Fry a few sage leaves at a time until crisp, ± 10 seconds.
- Transfer quickly with a fork, before they brown, to a tray lined with a paper towel.
- Sprinkle generously with salt.
- Serve the soup scattered with a few reserved mushrooms, crispy sage leaves, and a fresh crack of black pepper. Enjoy!
