Mushroom soup with stilton, apple & walnut croûtes

Ingredients

• For the soup
• 2 onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 organic chicken or vegetable stock cube
• ½ bunch fresh thyme
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 large portobello mushrooms
• 100 g basmati rice
• 1 tablespoon single cream
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil
• For the croûtes
• 8 chestnut mushrooms
• 1 ciabatta loaf
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 eating apple
• ½ a bunch of fresh curly parsley
• 1 lemon
• 50 g Stilton cheese
• 1 small handful shelled walnuts

Method

1. Peel, halve and finely slice the onions. Put them in a large pan with 2 tblsp of olive oil
2. Crumble in the stock cube, add a pinch of salt and pepper, strip in the thyme leaves and squash in 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic through a garlic crusher
3. De-stalk the chestnut mushrooms and place the tops on the griddle pan, turning when charred
4. Tear the chestnut stalks and portobellos into the onion pan, add the rice and cook for a couple of minutes
5. Pour in 1 litre of boiling water and boil with the lid on
6. Meanwhile, cut 4 slices of ciabatta at an angle and add to the griddle pan
7. When charred on both sides, rub with a halved garlic clove
8. Coarsely grate or slice the apple into matchsticks and toss with the roughly chopped parsley and a little lemon juice
9. Place the chestnut mushrooms on the toasts, crumble over the stilton and walnuts, then pop under the grill until the cheese is melted
10. Use a stick blender to purée the soup to a consistency you like, then season to taste, if needed, and swirl in the cream and truffle oil
11. Top the toasts with pinches of apple and parsley and serve on the side