Cream of Puffball Soup is a traditional British recipe for a classic soup of puffball mushrooms cooked in an onion, celery, vermouth and cream base. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Cream of Puffball Soup.
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Puffball Soup is a delicate, creamy soup made from either common/meadow puffball or Giant Puffball. If you're lucky enough to find one of these weird and wonderful wild mushrooms, this soup is a special treat you won't forget.
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
150g onion, diced (1 medium onion)
100g diced celery (~2 long stalks)
3 garlic cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
500g meadow puffballs or giant puffballs, peeled and grated
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
¼ tsp white pepper (or black pepper)
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
1 bay leaf
120 ml dry white vermouth or dry white wine
1 litre chicken stock
250ml single cream
1½ tbsp sweet (glutinous) rice flour
Method:
Melt the butter in a heavy-based stockpot or large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring often. Add the diced onion, celery, and garlic, and fry for 5 minutes, until the onion has softened.
Add the grated puffball, salt, white pepper, sugar, nutmeg, and bay leaf.
Pour in the white vermouth (or wine) and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine has been absorbed and there is no liquid pooling at the bottom of the pot (about 5-8 minutes).
Add the chicken stock, bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer it for 10 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and allow the soup to cool slightly then purée the soup in a blender (in 2 batches) or use a hand-held immersion blender to purée in the pan until it is really smooth. Return the soup to the pan if using a blender.
Whisk the sweet rice flour into the single cream and stir it into the soup. Bring the soup to a boil and cook for 30 seconds.
Serve with a drizzle of truffle oil or olive oil and a sprinkling of chopped chives.
It you want extra texture then take about 100g puffballs and cut into medium-sized dice. Fry these in oil until beginning to brown around the edges then stir into the soup before serving and garnishing.
