Mushroom soup with puff pastry lid

Mushroom soup with puff pastry lid

45 min
With this delicious recipe for mushroom soup with a puff pastry lid, you can serve a starter that impresses. A delicious blend of conventional mushrooms, the more sophisticated oyster mushroom and blue cheese – a sure winner.
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Instructions

  • Melt the butter in a saucepan over a high heat without letting it brown. Sauté the onions, mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms for about 5 minutes before adding the vegetable stock. Combine the cream and flour to a smooth consistency.
  • Bring the soup to a boil and add the thickener, stirring constantly. Cook the soup over a low heat, covered, for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper and season to taste.
  • Divide the mushroom soup into four deep ovenproof serving bowls (large enough to hold approximately 450 ml of soup with a diameter of approximately 10 cm). Roll the puff pastry sheets into four squares (approximately 18x18 cm). Brush the edges of the bowls with egg. Place the puff pastry sheets on top as a lid and press the edges lightly. Spread the cheese on the lids and bake the dish in the middle of the oven until the cheese has melted and the pastry lids are golden brown.
  • Place the soup bowls on four serving plates and serve the rest of the mushroom soup in a large bowl on the side.
Enjoy!

Mushroom soup with puff pastry lid

How does the dish compare to traditional mushroom soup recipes?
This recipe is considered a traditional mushroom soup and ticks all the right boxes, from luxuriously creamy and earthy to savoury and satisfying. The pastry lid is a bit of a twist on the old classic and adds an air of sophistication and mystery to this much-loved dish.
Does puff pastry need to be baked before filling?
In the case of this recipe, no. This is mainly because the puff pastry sits on top of the soup and doesn’t come into direct contact with the liquid. When adding a filling directly to puff pastry, or using it as a base or crust, some recipes may require a partial bake to ensure a perfectly crisp outcome, every time.
Can the recipe be adapted for those with dietary restrictions, such as gluten-free or vegan?
For a gluten-free variation, simply replace the plain flour (used as a thickening agent) with corn, tapioca, or arrowroot starch and either leave off the pastry lid or replace it with a gluten-free option. For a vegan soup, replace the butter with olive oil, and cream with coconut milk (both light and full fat will work well for this recipe). Again, leave off the pastry lid or replace it with a vegan option and brush with soy, coconut, or oat milk instead of adding the slice of cheese.

Ingredients

Soup
Butter
25 g
Shallots, finely chopped
50 g
Mushrooms, sliced
450 g
Oyster mushrooms, cut into strips
200 g
Vegetable stock
1 litre
Double cream
150 ml
Flour
3 tbsp
Coarse salt
1 tsp
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Pastry lid
Frozen puff pastry, thawed
4 sheets
Blue ​ cheese slices
50 g
Egg, beaten
1

Soup never looked this fancy

With a lid of buttery pastry, baked to golden perfection, this soup makes a memorable first impression. It has more than good looks though and your guests will be equally enthralled when they break through the lid and release that first puff of earthy, savoury flavours. It’s like the perfect 10 of dinner party appetisers.

Get your puff pastry picture perfect

For the perfect pastry that belongs at the very top of any social media feed, you need to get three things right: thawing, cutting, and brushing. Make sure that the pastry is properly thawed before unfolding. This will help to keep each layer perfectly intact, significantly upping your puffing game during the cooking process. While the pastry is still cold, make clean cuts by pressing your knife straight down, never at an angle and never dragging the knife back and forth. Lastly, make sure that you brush the dough with egg before baking for that shiny, golden-brown end-result that will always set your baked goods apart.

The best breads for soup

While most breads will work well with this soup, few are as comforting as a homemade ciabatta fresh from the oven (get our recipe for an authentically Italian loaf here. It’s also the perfect way to mop up every drop of soup from your ramekin. A quick-and-easy garlic bread is a great option too (simply spread a garlic and butter mix on bread, sprinkle with salt and toast in the oven until crisp), as is a cheese bread that will work great with the slice of cheese melted into the puff pastry lid (here’s one of our favourite recipes.

Use your leftovers like this

Create a slurry of cornstarch or plain flour and water to transform your leftovers into a creamy mushroom sauce, perfect for anything from hamburgers and grilled steak to pasta and baked potatoes. It will also work great as the base for a comforting beef stroganoff: simply add beef strips and a tablespoon of dijon mustard to the thickened sauce, and serve over rice or pasta.