Spicy Mushroom Soup

Spicy mushroom soup is one of those winter warming recipes and something we make the day before we go to work, in a cold warehouse a hot bowl of soup with a peppery kick is a great warmer and gives you a boost.

For this recipe we have used button mushrooms but any variations will add flavour. Cracked black peppercorns give this hearty soup its kick and all you really need after that is some fresh crusty bread, cream is an option if you like it but we settled on some extra garlic to compliment the pepper and get the flavours bold.

Ingredients:
1 kilo button mushrooms, washed and trimmed but stalks left on
2 large white onions
125g white rice
3 cloves garlic
1 liter hot chicken or vegetable stock
good large pinch fresh cracked black peppercorns
salt
olive oil and butter

How to Make:
1.Peel, the onions and slice as finely as you can and place into a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a knob of butter. with the heat on full, add the garlic, crushed but not peeled, the salt and pepper.

2.Stir all the ingredients together and then add the mushrooms and the rice, cook for a few minutes and you will see all the ingredients begin to colour nicely.

3. Add the hot stock to the pan, bring to the boil stirring and then put the lid on.  Lower the heat slightly and leave to cook for 15-20 minutes.

4. After this time, remove from the heat and using a hand blender, gently blend until you get the consistency you want.  If it is too runny, leave to cook with the lid off for a few minutes.

5. Check your seasoning and serve!  A handful of chopped fresh parsley added at this point is really delicious.