Vegan Mushroom Soup

In a mug or small bowl pour the boiling water over the porcini mushrooms and set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Peel and finely chop the onion and cook gently until softened.
Meanwhile, clean and slice the mushrooms.
Add them to the pan with a generous pinch of salt and the whole sprigs of thyme or rosemary (with all their leaves), and cook for 5 minutes until they have started to release their juices.
Peel and crush the garlic cloves and add them to the pan along with the flour, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring well.
Remove the sprigs of thyme or rosemary from the pan.
Add the vegetable stock to the pan, then pour in the soaking liquid from the porcini mushrooms, straining it through a sieve to keep the porcini mushrooms.
Finely chop the porcini mushrooms and add to the pan.
Bring the soup to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and black pepper as required.
Remove from the heat, add the dairy-free cream then either use a hand blender to blitz the soup for just a few short pulses so it still has lots of juicy chunks of mushroom, or else remove just less than half the soup from the saucepan, blend that half to a purée in a blender, then return it to the pan and stir into the remaining soup. Taste again and adjust seasoning as required.
Finely chop the parsley and stir through the finished soup, then serve each bowl with a drizzle of cream and/or extra virgin olive oil, or some chunky croutons.