Onion caramel:
1 In your pot, melt the 1.1 oz (30 g) of butter, then gently cook your shallots without browning. Add your minced oyster mushrooms (stems and caps), season with salt and pepper, and add your nutmeg. Cover and let sweat gently, covered, for 10 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, in a pan without any fat, roast your pancetta slices, then while still hot, mold them around a cylindrical support (broomstick handle, rolling pin, or similar).
3 Add the cornstarch dissolved in a little cold milk to your sweated mushrooms, stir, then add your liter of milk. Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and cook gently for 20 minutes, making sure the bottom of your pot doesn't stick.
4 While this is cooking, prepare the onion caramel. In a saucepan, gently cook your onions until they begin to brown, then add the sugar, salt, freshly ground pepper, and water or beer. Cook until everything caramelizes, then remove from heat. Pour 1 teaspoon of cold water into your caramel, then quickly strain it through a fine sieve (strainer). As it cools later, you'll see your caramel become like a thick syrup.
5 Your soup is ready. Blend it until you have only tiny specks remaining in the cream. Adjust the seasoning, then keep it warm in a bain-marie.
6 Pour your soup into beautiful shallow bowls, then arrange your pancetta petals around or on the side, and dot with small drops of onion caramel (placed in a small squeeze bottle).
A lovely appetizer that can even become a light meal for dinner.
Scandinavian and Japanese mushrooms brought oyster mushrooms into fashion, but in Brittany, some brasserie cooks were already using them in their weekly soups, with brown beer instead of water in the onion caramel. A detail that changes everything: the beer brings a subtle bitterness that balances the sweet notes of the milk. Try it with an abbey brown ale, you'll see. The trick with this soup is the bottom of the pot sticking after adding the milk. Stir right at the boil and immediately lower the heat to a simmer, no more. Cornstarch dissolved in cold milk before adding is non-negotiable, otherwise you'll end up with lumps that are impossible to blend. For serving, place a few slices of toasted rye bread on the side, and you have an appetizer that works just as well for an evening meal.
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