Bolete Soup – Tattikeitto

In the Finnish forest one can find many types of “tatties” in late summer and autumn. Tatties are not an exact scientific term and basically encompass mushrooms with pores that are edible. The bolete or ceps is the most prominent of that family, but there are many more. This recipe is using dried mushroom, but they can of course be replaced by fresh ones. Dried mushrooms have a more intensive taste and I can recommend trying this soup with dried ones.

Supermarkets usually sell chanterelles and later winter chanterelles, because they keep better and do not spoil so fast. If you live in Finland its worth learning to recognize some basic tatties and how to handle them.

Since many mushroom grow year after year in the same spot, good mushroom spots are top secret, and it is quite indecent to ask somebody after their mushroom spot (they look a bit puzzled at you and wave in the general direction and say somewhere near that hill or similar). I tend to tease sometimes Finns a bit saying its ok if to aske somebody if they still beat their wife (sadly Finland has a very high rate of domestic violence), but asking for the mushroom spot is a no, no and that mushrooms spots are often family secrets and passed on to the favourite child maybe with the last breath on the dying bed....there is some (sad) truth in that. Anyway, ask in autumn some friends if they know somebody who could explain some mushrooms to you and maybe they take you along to a trip to their third best mushroom spot.

Ingredients:

2 dl Dried boletes (or 7–8 dl cubed fresh boletes)

1 Medium-sized onion

1 Garlic clove

2 Tablespoon oil

6 dl Water

1 Cube of chicken bouillon

200 g Cream cheese with herbes (e.g. chives)

Freshly grated black pepper

1 bouquet of parsley finely hacked

3 Tablespoon strong coffee (or 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce)

Topping:

Ryebread cubes fried in butter and some parsley twigs

Instructions:

Crush the dried mushroom by hand or in a mortar into small pieces. Soad those pieces for 30 minutes in 3 dl warm water. Meanwhile cut the onion and the garlic into small pieces and fry in a large pot. Add 3 dl of water and the soaked mushrooms including the soaking water. Add the chicken bouillon cube and cook for 15 minutes. Add the cream cheese and simmer on low heat so it dissolves properly. Add pepper, parsley and coffee.

Add croutons on top of each soup plate.