Magiritsa with oyster mushrooms

Magiritsa is a traditional Greek Easter soup. In fact it is the very soup that Greeks break their 40 day fast with, after they have returned from the midnight mass on Easter Saturday. This soup is traditionally made with lambs' innards and avgolemono, an egg and lemon sauce. Some people also add rice but I don’t think it’s necessary.

I know that Easter is in April but I have already made my magiritsa for the magazine which is always a month ahead at least. So I am used to cooking Christmas food in late October and Easter food in early March.
Still, my version of the soup is fine for Lent too since it has neither innards nor eggs. It is made with oyster mushrooms -so it retains some of the texture of the traditional thing- and all the usual vegetables and herbs like dill and spring onions. It is very very tasty, a fact admitted by sworn carnivores too.

For four servings

• 350 gr chopped oyster mushrooms (you can use scissors to cut them more easily)
• 4 artichokes, cut and peeled
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• ½ cup of chopped dill
• 1 ½ lt vegetable stock
• olive oil
• 2 tablespoons corn flour
• juice of one lemon

Sautee the onions (not the spring onions) and oyster mushrooms.
Chop the artichokes and put in a large pan along with vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and boil for about 30 minutes.
In a bowl add ¼ cup water, corn flour, lemon juice, spring onions and dill. Stir well and add the mixture to the pan with the vegetables. Cook for another 5 minutes in moderate heat. Season to taste and add more lemon juice if you want to.