French Mushroom Duxelles Soup with Thyme Baguette Croutons

Carefully clean the mushrooms and chop them very finely with a large knife (or pulse briefly in a food processor to form fine pieces). Peel and also very finely chop the shallots and garlic. Strip the leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme and finely chop.

Melt 30 g of butter in a wide pot over medium heat. Sweat the shallots and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes until translucent. Then add the finely chopped mushrooms and chopped thyme. Sauté gently for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until all released liquid has completely evaporated and the mushrooms form a dark, wonderfully aromatic duxelles mixture.

Deglaze the duxelles with the white wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine reduce almost completely so that the subtle acidity blends with the mushroom flavours.