This is a delicious alternative for those who don’t appreciate the smell or flavour of offal which is typically used for the traditional mageiritsa but the dried porcini do give some welcome meatiness to the soup.
Ingredients (Serves 6–8)
- 40g dried porcini mushrooms
- 500g mixed mushrooms (oyster, button, field, chestnut, chanterelles)
- 1 large white onion
- 3 spring onions
- 500g different types of lettuce
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- ½ a fennel bulb, finely chopped
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 100ml dry white wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 50ml virgin olive oil
- 100g easy-cook white rice
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
Method
Start by preparing the vegetables for the soup. Place the dried porcini in a small bowl and pour over 100ml of boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. Wipe the fresh mushrooms and chop them into small dice. Grate the onion, and trim and finely slice the spring onions. On a clean board, slice the lettuce. Zest and juice the lemon and set aside, for serving.
Drain the soaked porcini, reserving the liquid. Chop the porcini into small pieces. Put a large sauté pan on a low to medium heat and add the oil. Cook the mushrooms in batches, including the soaked porcini, for a few minutes until they are beautifully caramelised and dry. Put them into a large bowl.
In a soup pan, cook the white onion, spring onions, fennel and ground coriander over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes. Add the wine, then increase the heat slightly and let the wine almost totally evaporate. Add the chopped lettuce, the bay leaf, the porcini soaking water and the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes.
Rinse the rice and add it to the soup. Continue cooking for about another 20 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked. Remove the bay leaf and add most of the finely chopped dill, keeping some back to sprinkle at the end. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs very well. Add the lemon juice in a thin stream/drizzle? to the beaten eggs, whisking all the time. Start adding the hot soup with a ladle, again in a thin stream at the beginning to avoid the eggs curdling while still whisking. Repeat two or three times. . Take the pan off the heat and add the whisked egg mixture stirring well to incorporate it fully.Add the mushrooms and give the soup a good .
You can place the pan back on a very low heat for the egg to fully cook, or, if you prepare the soup a few hours in advance, reheat it gently before serving. Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped dill and lemon zest.