Season of mist, mellow fruitfulness and..mushrooms

[di reston]

Here the mushroom season is truly upon us. Truffles as well. We live in the homeland of the white Alba truffle, Alba being the city generally held as being the capital of Italian truffles even though most of them are gathered around Asti and eastwards. Porcini mushrooms are at their best now, and the truffle hunters and mushroom gatherers go out alone with their dogs (in the case of truffles), to their secret places to see what Mother Nature has to offer them. Truffles fetch astronomical prices, and the truffle 'market' are small affairs, almost as though they were held in secret.

This is a recipe for mushroom and truffle
tagliatelle: you can change the tagliatelle and do risotto instead:

80g uncooked tagliatelle per head.
Butter for cooking, or a mix of butter and EVOO according to your own preference
A sofritto of onions and garlic finely chopped.
500g wild mushrooms, cleaned and cut into 1cm cubes.
bacon lardons to taste
Dry white wine of a good quality - quality is everything with good ingredients
Fresh chicken stock
Chopped sage,parsley, picked thyme and 1 bay leaf
Cream to thicken the sauce
Grated Parmesan for sprinkling before serving, or given at the table
S & P (this recipe takes a good grinding of black pepper very well, but quantities to suit your own taste.
Grated Parmesan to taste - fresh-grated if possible. A must.
Ground black pepper
Cream to thicken the sauce - optional, some my like it, others not
Butter, or a mix of butter and EVOO

Soften the soffritto in butter, or oil and butter. Add the bacon lardons and wild mushrooms and the herbs. Soften gently until cooked. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add the stock and cook down to get a sauce consistency. Quantities depend on you and your personal taste. Season and adjust if necessary.. Add the parmesan if you're putting into the recipe. I put some in the recipe and then hand round extra if people want.

In the meantime, cook the tagliatelle in the usual way. If you're doing a risotto instead, then follow the classic order of procedure.

What mushroom recipes do you have? I look forward to an exchange of ideas. If you have a better way of doing it than the recipe says, I'm interested to know. That's the way knowledge grows - with sharing!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[erehweslefox]

Given that Beloved Wife and I moved recently, and work and other pressures, I have not been foraging as I should be, and feel like I missed prime mushroom season here in Pennsylvania, we have beautiful morels, oysters, and chantrelles.

I would add a tbsp of flour or corn starch to this to thicken the sauce. And I do, to my shame, get most of my white wine from a box. As a guest I'd tap a bottle, but for cooking I don't think it makes a good deal of difference.

This is an excellent recipe that I will use, even if I don't have the mushrooms from the field, but have to get them from grocery. Thank goodness I have a Wegmans, they have a very nice mushroom selection.

TBS

 

[di reston]

Then you would be able to make wonderful mushroom risotto with a selection of mushroom risotto like that:

70g wild mushrooms ,10 g cèpes or porcini mushrooms
70g Carnaroli rice per person
40g finely hand chopped onions
2 large cloves finely chopped garlic
Home made chicken stock
2- 3 tbsp PhiliLight or Mascarpone
1 handful grated parmes cheese

to Garnish, sprinkling of dried black or white truffle, or finely chopped porcini mushrooms

Sweat the onion and garlic in the butter, then add the rice and the wine and stir until it's very lightly toasted. In the meantime have the dried mushrooms soaked and ready to use, and keep the water to one side. Chop the wild mushrooms into small cubes and add to the pan. Then add rest of the mushrooms to the rice and mix well, then start adding the stock a bit at a time. Proceed as you would to make a traditional risotto. When the rice is 'al dente', add the soft cheese, take off the heat, mix in the parmesan and serve


You can do this with any mushrooms you happen to gather


di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[erehweslefox]

I think I'm gonna go on a little woods stomp after voting tomorrow and try to grab up some late fall mushabooms. Here in Pennsylvania, we are at the edge of the best season, spent too much of the prime season moving, but I think I can still forage some oysters and mayhaps some chantrelles if fortune favors me. I also know a good abandoned apple orchard, which is prime Morel territory. (and give me some props here how many people know and remember abandoned apple orchards, right?)

So I have to admit, I'm kind of scared of risotto. For no real reason. I tried it once years ago, and burned it, and for some reason I have it in the list of 'food dishes not to try', thinking of it now, my question to myself is 'why'? and I don't have a great answer. I'm gonna gather some mushrooms and try your recipe.

Thanks for sharing.

TBS

 

[GotGarlic]

Oh, go for it! Risotto is *so* worth mastering

 

[LPBeier]

That recipe is awesome! I think I would go for Risotto only because I would have to use gluten free pasta and I think that would be a waste of all those flavours. This is going on the list as we love mushrooms and risotto! Thanks for sharing.

 

[medtran49]

Craig came across some beautiful yellow oyster mushrooms when he did our grocery shopping Sunday. He got 2 huge bunches. They are going in a spinach salad we'll probably have tomorrow as I don't want them to sit any longer.

Just an FYI, Oregon mushrooms has white alba truffles now for $250 an ounce (no, not a typo). They also have domestic porcinis, morels and chantarelles if anybody is interested, $24-28/lb. Smallish black Burgundy truffles are $22 an ounce. We've bought from them several times and have always been happy, as has at least 1 other person on this forum.

 

[di reston]

Just a slight change of direction: this is a recipe that I evolved somehow myself, by mistake, but it turned out well. It was supposed to be 'Coq au Vin', but it transmogrified (meaning to change in a surprising way) into this:

1 chicken, jointed into 8 parts, skin off if you prefer, and floured
Chopped onions and garlic, you adjust your quantities to your own taste,
given that you all know what you're doing
bacon lardons, about 1 handful
White wine for deglazing
A generous amount of fresh mushrooms and fresh sage, thyme and bay leaves. Other herbs are optional.
Butter
Good quality chicken stock, which I freeze, I make my own every day and Lucas, my dog gets the meat.

Brown the meat in the butter, add the chopped onions and garlic and lower the heat, add the bacon lardons, then the mushrooms, and cook them thoroughly, and then deglaze with the wine. Add the stock and simmer until the mushrooms and chicken reach the right doneness. You can add cream if you wish, but I think it rather destroys the flavor of this dish.

I usually serve this with plenty of good bread, and side of compatible vegetables.