Made with a mix of foraged and local ingredients, Mario Matassa’s wild mushroom soup recipe is a rich, down-to-earth meal to savour with crusty Italian bread
Words, recipe and photo © Mario Matassa
Mushrooms in Italy are never just a side dish: they’re an event.
Wild mushrooms come in many guises, each with its own merits. For most aficionados, funghi porcini are always the star of the show.
Some say the best way to eat them is to pick them fresh – slice them thinly and season with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and a little pepper. Hardly a recipe.
Others swear by the trifolati method: the mushrooms are sliced, carefully pan-fried in garlic, seasoned with parsley, salt and pepper, and served with a thick slice of toasted ciabatta. This method also works well with cultivated mushrooms.
When you can’t find fresh wild mushrooms, in the woods or the greengrocer’s, don’t despair. Good quality dried porcini mushrooms are great, sometimes superior alternative.
Dried porcini mushrooms are the secret to a perfect risotto. They’ll also elevate your soups and stews to another level and, coupled with tomatoes, they make a perfect pasta sauce. I could go on.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve amassed as many recipes as blisters on my feet! My children are always treated to a bowl of tagliatelle with porcini and finerli (chanterelles) at the opening of every season. It’s become a tradition.
P.S. Mushrooms are very exchangeable: you can pick and mix. The only two hard and fast rules are:
- Don’t wash your mushrooms under running water; use a brush and a damp cloth.
- Don’t ever pick mushrooms to eat unless you know what you’re doing!
Mixed wild mushroom soup | Zuppa di funghi
➤ SERVES: 4
➤ PREPARATION: 15 minutes
➤ COOKING: 25minutes
Ingredients:
- 800g mixed mushrooms, approx. (a combination of porcini, chanterelles, pioppino and oyster work well)
- 250g potato
- 1 clove of garlic
- olive oil
- 1 litre of good vegetable stock
- 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- crispy ciabatta or Italian country bread for serving
Method:
- Clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth. Slice the larger mushrooms. If using pioppino, you can cook them whole. Peel the potatoes and chop into 1.5cm cubes. Peel and chop the garlic.
- Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a high-sided pan. Add the potato and the garlic and stir gently until the garlic is just starting to brown. Add the larger mushrooms, such as the sliced porcini and the chanterelles. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes and then add the stock and the smaller mushrooms. Season generously with salt and pepper and bring to a gentle boil. Continue cooking for about 15-20 minutes on a gentle boil.
- Switch off the heat and stir in the finely chopped fresh parsley. Serve with toasted country or ciabatta bread drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.
TIP: Cost aside, there are good chemical reasons to cook with ordinary olive oil and use your extra-virgin oil to season a dish.
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