WILD MUSHROOMS
September may well be my favourite food month. Late-summer produce is still going strong, our orchards and hedgerows are heaving with fruit, and there’s still the possibility of a balmy Indian summer. Also joining the party is delicious autumnal produce – including, most excitingly, wild mushrooms.
The UK is home to more than 15,000 varieties of wild mushroom, only some of them edible, and there is some significant risk in foraging for them yourself. If you’re incredibly careful, you can save cash by scouring local woodlands for ceps, chanterelles, girolles and other autumnal treasures, but I personally don’t trust my mushroom knowledge. A reputable commercial foraging company will do it for you (see Shop Small, Buy Well, below), or you can buy trays of them in many grocers and farmers’ markets.
Wherever you get them from, wild mushrooms often come coated in earth or other woodland debris, and it can be tempting to give them a good wash but, like little sponges, they soak up liquid, which dilutes their flavour. Better to brush off any dirt with a pastry brush, then gently wipe them with a damp cloth. The only exception is morels, which harbour grit and need to be rinsed.
As a general rule, mushrooms need to be blasted with heat in a generous amount of fat to brown them, due to their high water content. Pan-frying is my preferred cooking method, and should include plenty of butter and a generous sprinkling of salt to help extract the water. Once you’ve got the fat really hot, add the mushrooms (making sure not to crowd them) and cook, undisturbed, until one side is nicely browned, then turn and repeat on the other side. Resist the urge to stir them and you’ll achieve perfect caramelisation.
Once they’re cooked, in my opinion it’s best to let wild mushrooms speak for themselves. My favourite way to enjoy them is on toast with butter, crispy sage and possibly a fried or poached egg. Anything pasta-, polenta- or risotto-related works incredibly well too. If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, pan-fried girolles or chanterelles work wonderfully with peas and onions braised in a little chicken stock, and wild mushrooms make an excellent addition to broths of most kinds.
For Giovanna’s supper clubs and butchery company, see cookandfeast.co.uk