Serves 6 – 8 as starter or 3-4 as a main course

Takes 40 minutes

Inspired by our trips to Japan, and helped by our increasing understanding of Japanese cuisine, Edwina designed this from scratch, adding a dot of this, a dot of that, until she was happy. It has a beautiful, intense, mushroomy and miso-y flavour, and a lovely smooth texture; it’s very satisfying indeed. It makes a great posh lunch (served with some chunks of sourdough bread or toast), or a lovely starter

10g dried Japanese mushrooms, finely chopped, soaked in 3 tbspns boiling water for 20 minutes

250g Chestnut/shitake/Portobello mushrooms finely chopped

1 tbspn chives, finely chopped

20g butter

350mls Miso Soup

2 tbspns crème fraiche

3 tspns soy sauce

1 dstspn dry sherry

Fresh ground black pepper

• Start the chives frying gently in a medium pan with 20g unsalted butter, fry for 2 minutes, then add the chopped mushrooms, fry gently for 5 mins with the lid on, then add the dried mushrooms and the water they were soaked in, and a good grind of pepper. Cook (again with the lid on) for 10 minutes

• Add the soy sauce and allow to bubble for 2 minutes, then stir in the crème fraiche. When dissolved add the miso soup

• Blitz until very smooth – sieve it if not entirely smooth. Add the dry sherry and adjust seasoning. Serve at room temperature in a small glass with toast