Czech Republic - Mushroom soup

This week I was watching Master Chef Australia season 6 and there was a lot of dried mushroom being used - so when I was researching food for the Czech Republic and saw a dried mushroom soup I leapt at the chance!

Luckily for you my lack of any further research means a sweet and short post, which gets to the recipe nice and quick. This soup was delicious and very easy to make, the mushrooms give it a very meaty flavour! I added bulgur wheat to the soup to make it a bit more substantial as it was my main meal for a couple of days - but otherwise pretty much followed this recipe for bramboracka which is the name of the soup. Also - google translate went a bit funny and kept calling it a potato soup or pancake so don't get too confused!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes diced

• 1 stick of celery snapped in 2

• 1 onion cut in half.

• handful of parsley

• 3 cloves garlic minced

• 2 carrots peeled and chopped into 1cm rounds

• 1.5 l of water

• 2-3 tablespoons of flour

• 1 tbsp butter

• a large handful of dried mushrooms

• Salt to taste

Method

1. Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water. Let them sit for 5 minutes.

2. In the meantime in a large saucepan of medium heat add the butter and melt. Once melted add the flour and stir until a paste forms. Slowly add the water and turn the heat up to bring to a boil.

3. Drain the mushrooms and add to the boiling stock along with the celery, parsley and onion.

4. Once they've cooked for about 10 minutes add the potato and carrot.

5. Remember to taste and season.

6. Once the potato is almost cooked remove the celery, parsley and onion - discard.

7. Add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.

8. Serve warm with some fresh parsley.