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"His creative, imaginative cuisine has its roots in logic commonsense, craft skills of the highest order, and a focus on raw materials of the finest qualities...."

Wild mushroom chowder

For a real wow factor serve this soup in a brown soda bread container as shown in the picture.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and lightly dust the insides of four heatproof serving bowls. Divide one quantity of my brown soda bread into four and drop into the bowls, then bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool, then cut off the tops and scoop out the insides, leaving a layer of bread from the crust before ladling in the soup to serve.

Heat a heavy-based pan and add the olive oil and a knob of the butter. Once the butter is foaming, tip in the onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook slowly for 4-5 minutes until tender but not coloured. Take out and reserve some of the mushroom mixture to garnish.

Add the wine to the pan and allow to evaporate until reduced by half, then season to taste. Add the vegetable stock or water, stirring to combine and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until slightly reduced and all the flavours have had the chance to infuse.

Stir the cream into the pan and leave to simmer for another few minutes, then transfer to a food processor or liquidiser and whiz to a puree.

Remove the soup from the heat and whisk in the remaining butter. Season to taste and ladle into warmed serving bowls, then garnish with the reserved mushrooms.