Fabulous Funghi - Simple Supper Recipe

Autumn in Italy – a particularly pleasurable time on the culinary calendar, especially if you love mushrooms. Many towns and villages celebrate their appearance with special mushroom festivals, such as that in San Giovanni d’Asso in Tuscany.

Porcini

Most delicious of all are funghi porcini (wild boletus edulis) known elsewhere as ceps. If you’re in Italy at this time, look out for fresh porcini appearing on menus in restaurants, trattorie and even pizzeria. Porcini are often used to make a deliciously flavoursome mushroom risotto; are fried with garlic and olive oil then served on toast as antipasti, or sprinkled onto pizza for a rich, tasty topping.

Beware of the Deadly Death Cap

Porcini are expensive, but don’t go tramping off to the woods to search for them yourself, however tempting it might be. As recent cases, such as that of author Nicholas Evans, have highlighted – it’s very easy to confuse a safe mushroom with one that’s deadly. The infamous Death cap (Amanita phalloides), for instance, looks fairly innocuous – it’s light in colour, often with a creamy coloured cap, and can easily be confused with various edible mushrooms. Yet just a tiny amount can kill – and even if you recover you’ll end up with a badly damaged liver. So leave it to the professional mushroom hunters.

Dried Mushrooms

It’s difficult to get hold of fresh porcini outside Italy (or France) – but you will be able to buy dried porcini. You simply soak them in water to rehydrate them (there should be instructions on the packet) and then use them in risottos or lasagnes. Don’t throw away the water – it will be full of funghi flavour.

Sauteed mushrooms make a delicious light lunch or supper dish, when served on hot toast. Here’s a recipe for an autumn mushroom feast.

Sauteed Italian Garlic Mushrooms – Recipe-Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1lb / 450 g white button mushrooms
• 1 clove of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
• Extra Virgin Olive oil (or a large knob of butter if you prefer)
• 1 large tablespoon chopped, fresh, parsley
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Wash and dry the button mushrooms. Slice a thin piece of the bottom of the stems – you discard this. Chop the mushrooms – either slice them lengthways or chop them more roughly, as you prefer.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan (or melt the butter). Cook the garlic gently – don’t let it burn.
3. Add the mushrooms, turn the heat up and sauté them. When they’ve soaked up the oil or butter, turn the heat down, season with salt and pepper ,and stir. The mushrooms will soon release their juice, at which point you then turn the heat up again and stir, while the liquid evaporates (around 5 minutes).
4. At this point you can, if you wish, stir in 1 or 2 tablespoons of single cream, to make a more indulgent dish.
5. Add the chopped parsley and some more salt and pepper (to taste). Then serve the mushrooms on slices of hot toast.

Recipe for Polenta with Mushroom Sauce

Mushrooms

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