Chicken and Mushroom Soup

I love mushrooms and I'm always a little dismayed that 95% of all mushrooms on offer at the supermarket are Portobello mushrooms. That's right, those wee button mushrooms that look so pretty - Portobello - those enormous mushrooms you could float a cat on - Portobello - an yes, those plain, white mushrooms that are the unsung heroes of many a bolognaise - Portobello. They are all the same variety, just picked at different stages of their growth.

But I digress, if like me you enjoy a bite to eat but only have limited prowess in the kitchen, then this recipe is for you. It makes a delicious, hearty and wholesome soup that is ideal as a spot of lunch in the darkest depths of winter. You can use whatever mushrooms you like in this recipe although you will find that Portobello work just fine, and because they are going to be soup, it doesn't matter if they are none too fresh or none too pretty.

All measurement are approximate:

750g of Portobello mushrooms.

2 litres water

150g of button mushrooms (or any other kind you want - these are to make everything look pretty)

50ml Garlic oil

100g of Chicken meat

The stock of one roast chicken

To serve:

Fresh single cream

Salt & Pepper

Firstly, you need some chicken stock. I don't mean that rubbish that come in a plastic bag but the proper chicken stock you get from a roast chicken. Here's my method. Roast your chicken in a Pyrex dish that is only marginally larger than the chicken. Midway through the roast remove the chicken from the dish and pour out the stock into a Pyrex jug (rinsing the dish with a little boiling water to clear everything out). Stick your chicken back in the dish and then back in the oven, and when it is done roasting repeat the stock draining exercise.  Ideally this wants to cool and sit in a fridge overnight. In the morning it should have separated into fat and a jelly of chicken stock. Scrape the fat off and dispose of it. You now have some first class, highly tasty chicken stock that has no added salt or any other rubbish. Good for you.

Coarsely chop 750g of mushrooms and sling them into a big pan with the water. I bring mine to the boil and then leave them to simmer for a few hours. After an hour or two slap that delicious chicken stock in and then leave it for another hour or so.

Meanwhile, quarter the button mushrooms and very gently fry them in the garlic oil. You want to subtly flavour the mushrooms with garlic but you don't want actually add real garlic as it will have a strong back of the throat flavour if you are not careful. You can buy garlic oil but that is a mugs game as it is painfully easily to make; here's how. Peel several bulbs of garlic. Place the garlic in air tight container and fill with the oil of your choice and leave for a few months. Many folk swear by olive oil, but this already has its own distinct flavour and really the purpose of flavoured oils is to gently infuse a flavour into food. I normally use a good quality vegetable oil and then what you end up with is a general purpose oil that tastes only of what it was flavoured with. You can flavour oil with just about anything and they are cheap and easy to make.

Anyway, once you have simmered the mushrooms with the chicken for as long as you feel like, put the whole lot in a jug blender and blend. I normally make mine super fine but some prefer a more rustic soup with larger bits. It is entirely up to you.

Once the soup is blended add it back into the pan. Add to this the sautéed button mushrooms. Also, add some chicken meat. You can use breast or whatever, but what I tend to do is pick the roast chicken carcass over and find all the tasty bits of meat on the underside of the chicken as well as the dark meat of the thighs (this is the best tasting meat on the bird if you ask me). Chop the meat up and sling it in the pan. This just needs to a gentle warming through and then it is ready to serve.

You can eat it as it is, although adding a small dollop of fresh single cream usually finishes the dish. You will need to add a little salt and pepper, but I think it is better to that in the bowl rather than in the pan. When you dish up, make sure everyone get some of the button mushrooms and chicken meat from the bottom of the pan.