Mushrooms are one of those ingredients that you either LOVE or hate. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground and I am firmly in the love camp. I even loved mushrooms as a child – especially coated in breadcrumbs and pan fried with lots of garlic!

I try to sneak mushrooms in a lot of my recipes, but unfortunately neither of my children have embraced them yet and will literally pick them out of stir fries and casseroles.

I can’t wait for them to develop slightly more sophisticated palates! I can’t remember when that kicked in for me, but I think I was a lot less fussy as a child (my mother probably would beg to differ).

This mushroom soup came about because I had asked my husband to get me some mushrooms for the pierogi recipe I posted recently… and he came back with enough mushrooms to feed an army. I needed a way to use the surplus and making a soup seemed like the easiest way to use lots of them at once.

Now mushroom soup tastes absolutely delicious – provided, again, that you are a mushroom lover – but it it is not much of a looker. In fact, it looks slightly off putting as it is sort of sludgy grey/brown colour. But dress it up with a few fried garlic mushrooms and some croutons and you have a dinner party worthy starter!

If you would like to soup to be a bit more substantial, you could add a potato or two, which will make it a bit thicker and more velvety.

Instead of potatoes, I really like adding a handful of cooked chestnuts which go really well with mushrooms and lend a bit of sweetness to the soup. You can buy them vacuum-packed or tinned these days. Leave the butter and cream out for a vegan version.