Comfort in a bowl on a chilly day – just imagine dipping a taleggio cheese toast into the creamy porcini-packed goodness.

Recipe and Styling Natalia Homan | Photograph Brendan Homan

Porcini, cauliflower & lentil soup with taleggio toasts
serves 4

25g dried porcini
½ small cauliflower
12 oregano sprigs
100ml olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g portobello mushroom, roughly chopped
½ cup brown lentils
500ml vegetable stock
sea salt & cracked black pepper

to serve
rye bread
taleggio cheese

Preheat oven to 190C. Soak the porcini in 400ml boiling water and allow to steep for 15 minutes. Tear the cauliflower into small florets, toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and place in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden, adding the oregano for the final 5 minutes. 

Heat the remaining olive oil in a heavy-based medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until golden, add the garlic and saute for a further 2 minutes. Add the chopped portobello mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid, and then continue to cook until the mix is dry. Drain the porcini stock into the saucepan, retaining the porcini in a sieve. Finely chop the porcini and add to the saucepan with the lentils. Add the vegetable stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer until the lentils are cooked, approximately 15 minutes. 

Place half the soup in a blender jug with the roasted cauliflower (retaining some florets for garnish) and process until smooth. Return the pureed soup to the saucepan and stir through. 

Serve soup garnished with roasted cauliflower florets with rye bread toast with melted taleggio on the side.

 

This recipe first appeared in the May 2020 issue of SALIFE magazine.