You don`t need to follow the exact measurements in the recipe, the ratios are changing with what`s available in the fridge. A generous amount of mushroom and onion is however important. If I have chicken or vegetable stock I`ll use it, but I mostly use just water. That`s the cool thing about mushrooms and onion, the stock is making itself. Leftover cooked pasta or rice is also a good addition. If they`re in season I love to use different mushroom varieties.
Ingredients
- 400 g champignon
- 1 x yellow onion
- 6 clove garlic
- ½ x leeks
- 400 g potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 dl dry white wine
- 1 pinch dried thyme
- 1 can chickpeas
- 3 dl vegetable broth
- 3 tbsp crème fraîche
- 1 handful leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Method
- Clean the mushrooms as needed. Here in France I often buy organic mushrooms with a lot of dirt on them, so I give them a good trim and cleaning. If your mushrooms are already prepped its enough to rinse them in water before they are dried and sliced.
- Prepare the vegetables: Finely slice the onion and garlic. Rinse the leek well between the layers before it`s sliced. Both the white and the green part of the leek can be used, but the white parts gives the soup a nicer colour and a little softer texture.
- Clean the potatoes. If they have thin peel I normally keep it. Dice and add to a bowl of cold water.
- Heat up olive oil in a large pot. Sauté the mushrooms on relatively high heat (it`s gonna look like way too much mushrooms) until the water from the mushrooms has been released and reduced. Add a knob of butter and sprinkle over some salt and black pepper and cook until the mushrooms has started to get a little colour.
- Decrease the heat and add onion, garlic and leek to the pot. Simmer on medium/low heat until everything is soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add white wine and dry thyme to the pot and reduce completely.
- Drain the chickpeas and rinse in cold water. Drain the water from the potatoes and add both potatoes and chickpeas to the pot. Cover with stock and/or water and let simmer until everything is soft.
- Take some ladles, or a much as you would like, of the soup and blend until smooth with a immersion blender or a blender. Add back to the pot. You can blend the whole thing if you prefer a completely smooth soup. Add water until you have the texture you prefer.
- Stir in the crème fraîche and finely chopped parsley (or any soft herb you like) before adding salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Garnish with a drizzle of good olive oil and fresh herbs before serving.
