Soup can be so mush more

Jun 15 2008 Michael Kilkie

Soup must be one of the greatest culinary inventions in the world. I'm not sure who thought up the idea of this wonderful liquid meal but, in my view, he or she was a genius.

Soup is one of the most versatile things to eat. It appears on almost every menu, from fine dining to greasyspoon cafes to restaurants representing food from every corner of the world.

Soup can be as simple or as fancy as you like. It can be filling or light, chunky or smooth, a tasty starter or a more substantial one-pot meal - the possibilities are endless.

Today's mushroom soup, like all soups and in fact all dishes, relies heavily on good-quality ingredients - the better the ingredients you start with, the better the end result will be.

For soup, the stock in particular must be good as it's such an integral part of the dish.

But mushrooms have a fairly strong taste so they will bring plenty of flavour. I've made mushroom soup using just water instead of stock and had pretty good results.

To give the soup a bit more body, add a handful of dried mushrooms that have been reconstituted in hot water to the soup. Use the liquid left after soaking to add to the soup - it's almost like ready-made mushroom stock. But strain it through a sieve to get rid of any dirt or grit that may have come off the mushrooms.

Another tip for making soup is to get a good base. I mostly use onion, leek and celery as my starting block, often putting a little carrot in as well. This works well without overpowering the flavour of the main ingredients.

Mushrooms work well with a lot of other ingredients, meaning you can take the soup in many different directions. Tarragon, blue cheese, thyme, sherry, bacon, butter, beef and leeks - the list goes on - are good matches for the mushroom flavour.

Be careful not to overcook the soup. If you cook it for too long, you will boil the flavour out of it. The soup needs to be liquidised when it's just cooked.