Mark Hix recipe: Trompette soup

Trompette soup (Jason Lowe)

Trompette soup

Serves 4-6

This tasty soup looks amazing – it's dramatic in the same way as a black squid-ink risotto. It makes a huge visual impact served as a course at a dinner party, and has a great earthy flavour. You can use fresh or dried trompette de la mort mushrooms for this.

Ingredients

50g butter

1 small leek, washed and roughly chopped

250g fresh trompette de la mort mushrooms (half the quantity if dried)

250g field mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped

A couple of sprigs of thyme

2tsp plain flour

1.5ltrs vegetable stock (a couple of cubes will do)

Salt and pepper

2tbsp double cream

1tbsp chopped parsley

Trim any gritty ends from the trompettes and tear them in half. Wash them well in cold water, then drain in a colander.

Melt the butter in a large pan and gently cook the leek, field mushrooms, three-quarters of the trompettes, garlic and thyme for 3-4 minutes with a lid on, stirring every so often, until they are soft.

Stir in the flour, then gradually add the hot vegetable stock. Bring it to the boil, season and simmer gently for 45-50 minutes.

Blend the soup in a liquidiser and strain through a sieve into a clean > saucepan. Meanwhile, gently cook the remaining trompettes on a low heat in the rest of the butter in a covered pan for 3-4 minutes, stirring every so often; then mix in the parsley and remove from the heat. Add the double cream to the soup and a little more stock if the soup's too thick.

To serve, bring to the boil, adjust the seasoning if necessary, ladle into bowls and spoon the cooked trompettes on top.