Cep, Roasted Cauliflower & Thyme Soup

An Early Autumn Recipe

The season for ceps is so delicate here in East Kent. Each autumn, I watch the weather hoping that this year will be the year that we get a good crop. I’ve not had much luck finding my own patch yet, despite quick fire questioning Roddy the forager at the market and trying to sandwich in a breezy ‘and where do you find your ceps?’ hoping he will answer before he realises that I’ve caught him out. Oh well, at least Roddy knows where they are and I can get my hands on some.

For this soup recipe, I actually just use dried porcini (the Italian word for ‘cep’ which can also be called a 'penny bun’) and add a few slivers of buttery-fried fresh ceps on top because making a soup out of actual seasonal ceps would be criminal, not to mention wildly expensive. Plus, dried ceps/porcini/penny buns are such a brilliant ingredient and also add incredible flavour to vanilla fudge (a true story that you can read here).

Anyhow, here’s a nice soup recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 small cauliflower, broken into florets

100g dried porcini mushrooms

2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on your garlic vibes - use 6 if you feel like it)

2 potatoes, diced

Olive oil

Butter

Small handful of fresh thyme stripped from the stem

Chicken stock (or veg, or mushroom)

Method

Roast cauliflower and garlic tossed in olive oil in the oven for 35-40 minutes (200 degrees fan oven)

Meanwhile, cover and soak mushrooms in boiling water

After 25 minutes, add butter to a heavy based saucepan and saute diced potatoes

Squeeze out the liquid from your mushrooms but retain the broth they were rehydrating in

Add these to the pan and sauté for a further five minutes with fresh thyme before topping with stock and the remaining mushroom water

Bring to a gentle simmer and once your cauliflower and garlic are ready, add these into the pan too

Cook everything together for a further five minutes, checking that the potato is now soft

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before blending to a smooth soup

You can add cream here if you like to make it richer, as well as salt and pepper to season

Serve with slices of fresh cep fried in butter and a sprig of fresh thyme

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