INGREDIENTS:

10g dried porcini mushrooms      

25 ml butter

1 onion, finely chopped

250g mixed mushrooms, thinly slices

30ml cake flour

1,2 litre chicken stock

15ml rice

1 bay leaf

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

15ml chopped parsley and mint mixed

6 soup bowls of approx. 250ml capacity

500g puff pastry

egg wash

METHOD:

• 1.      Soak the pocini mushrooms in warm water to reconstitute. Drain and slice.           
• 2.      Saute the finely chopped onion in the butter until lightly cooked and transparent.   Add the finely sliced mushrooms and cook for one minute, cover with a piece of greaseproof and sweat to soften.
• 3.      After 5 minutes, add the rest of the butter then the flour, remove from heat and slowly add the stock.  
• 4.      Return to the heat and add the rice and the bay leaf.  Cook gently together for 15-20 minutes, stirring constantly.
• 5.      Remove the bay leaf, season and add the herbs.
• 6.      Chill the soup.   Fill each soup bowl no more than 2/3 full.
• 7.      Roll the pastry out thinly into a large rectangle and cut 6 circles 1½cm in diameter larger than the top of the soup bowls.
• 8.      Brush the underside edge of each disk with water and carefully ease the disk onto the top of the soup bowl securing the wet overlap by pressing it firmly in place.
• 9.       Place the covered bowls on a baking sheet and egg wash the tops evenly with a pastry brush.   Cover carefully with plastic wrap so the pastry does not dry out and place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly.
• 10.     Preheat the oven to 220°C.   Place the chilled pastry covered bowls in the oven and bake until the pastry has puffed to a golden dome and cooked through by which time the soup will be steaming hot.
• 11.     Serve at once – delicious.
• 12.     Break through the crust and enjoy the steaming aroma of the soup and the crisp buttery texture of the pastry.

This specially tested recipe is issued by Alicia Wilkinson and Silwood Kitchen and is copyright reserved.  1993.