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.
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.
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.
For the 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.
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).
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.
