I've been working at a school doing emergency teaching with some really lovely people. Compared to my last workplace, it's refreshing, and whilst in an ideal world I wouldn't work for money at all, it's nice to be smiled at and to be asked what I'm doing on the weekend. There's a group of people that are real foodies as well, and bring in baked goodies fresh from the oven in the morning like blueberry and white chocolate muffins! None of this kind of thing happened at my last job, so it kinda blows me away.

^{Lactarius Deliciousa are - well - delicious!}

One of the teachers is my forage mate - the only one who 'gets' foraging for mushrooms and cooking wild foods. We've been sharing mushroom notes over the season and I brought in a big bag of white oyster mushrooms for him, which he turned into tempura which sounded amazing. He's quite the cook I think, which was totally proven when he brought in the most amazing soup made of saffron milk cap mushrooms or pine mushrooms, commonly found in pine forests. Honestly I do a good soup so I was a little trepidatious - would this be a good soup or would I just have to pretend to like it?

^{A gift of oyster mushrooms.}

Turns out it was absolutely gob smackingly amazing - like, next level amazing. Saffron milk caps kinda bleed this orangey 'milk' which coloured the soup to a burnt sienna, and left in the fridge, the layers separated so that the orange colour floated to the top.

Luckily he was willing to share. This was a base recipe adapted for the saffron milk caps, but I'd be interested to see how it would be with ordinary mushrooms. I think with ordinary mushrooms I'd add some thyme towards the end which I think always goes nicely. I also think I'd love to make a vegan version, perhaps skipping the cream and adding a dash of coconut cream and a soy or oat milk instead.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Saffron milk caps 800g
A small onion
Olive oil
Butter 30g
Flour 3 tablespoons
Vegetable stock 450ml
Milk 300ml
Cream 150ml
Salt & pepper to taste

Chop onion finely and sauté in a pot on low heat in olive oil and a third of the butter until caramelized and brown.
Add the flour to the onion then stir and add milk while stirring and cooking out the flour to make a thick white sauce. Then add the vegetable stock and cream and stir thoroughly.

Slice the mushrooms and sauté with olive oil and the remaining butter in a pan until some caramelization occurs. Browning both the onions and mushrooms to get some caramelization is key for more umami - the good old Malliard reaction that makes it taste amazing!

Process the mushrooms in a blender until it is a fine paste. You might like to withhold a handful to add so there are pieces within a smoother soup which is a nice touch.

Add the mushroom paste to the pot and stir while bring it to a simmer.

Serve with toasted buttered sour dough bread.

^{My friend's little girl with a saffron milk cap picked in a pine forest.}

Of course, this would be an even better post if I had a photo of said soup, but given it was served in a tupperware container in a staffroom, the aesthetic wasn't happening - and besides, I was starving. Don't worry, next saffie season I'll be repeating a version of this post and you'll all have forgotten this one :P

With Love,

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