The London Lounge

It is mushroom season. How many of you are out there harvesting delicious fungus.




I am. These are called Ferra and they are on a par with Porcini.

Cheers

I would love to and have often wished I could. There seems to be little interest here in the region that I live in, no-one to learn from; and from what I understand we have more than a few poisonous species that look just like the edible ones. I've been warned when I was young by people with more experience to not learn it from a book.

Often when I browse Carluccio's book for autumnal recipes, I get a bit envious. There's quite a few bits in his BBC series 'Two greedy Italians' where they collect wild mushrooms too. And he wrote a dedicated book about it.

I just love the idea. What could be better than browsing a golden forest for Porcini or Ferra?
Perhaps eating them?

Best,
Gido.

We spent a happy half day a couple of weekends ago wandering in the New Forest with an expert who identified our haul (about 2 litres worth) as edible/non-edible/fatal in the ratio of 10/70/20. To be honest this knocked my confidence a bit and I'm not at all happy about foraging in the UK given the terminal impact of a small mistake.

My wife, a Finn who has gathered mushrooms in her native woodlands since she was a small child is much better but will only pick what she knows. Happily the the little slice of heaven on which we will build our summer cabin is a carpet of chantrelles and black trumpets in September and a couple of hours work will yield enough mushrooms to last us the year. We are also awash with blueberries, smaller and sweeter than the commerical crops.

Man at C&A wrote:We spent a happy half day a couple of weekends ago wandering in the New Forest with an expert who identified our haul (about 2 litres worth) as edible/non-edible/fatal in the ratio of 10/70/20. To be honest this knocked my confidence a bit and I'm not at all happy about foraging in the UK given the terminal impact of a small mistake.

My wife, a Finn who has gathered mushrooms in her native woodlands since she was a small child is much better but will only pick what she knows. Happily the the little slice of heaven on which we will build our summer cabin is a carpet of chantrelles and black trumpets in September and a couple of hours work will yield enough mushrooms to last us the year. We are also awash with blueberries, smaller and sweeter than the commerical crops.

The writer Nicholas Evans (The Horse Whisperer), had a kidney transplant this year, following years of dialysis because he and members of his family ate the wrong fungus. However, a great book that aids in correct identification is Roger Phillips' Mushrooms (Macmillan Reference).
NJS

It is mushroom season. How many of you are out there harvesting delicious fungus. I am. These are called Ferra and they are on a par with Porcini.

Now, if you can also harvest clams and mussels, then..."Fungiu di Ferra":
http://www.fungaiolisiciliani.it/module ... e&sid=2291

Surely it is necessary to know what mushrooms to harvest. There are frightfully toxic varieties on my land, among the most lethal, but I know to stay away from them. I was taught by the locals how to identify the Ferra mushroom (and I let them eat them first .) The Ferra is the only room I go for and they are easy to identify.

Pierre: Lovely!

Hectorm: Nice recipe. My favorite is called "funghi trifolati" or truffled mushrooms. Heat a good skillet, add olive oil and rooms, sear at high heat, add loads of chopped garlic,fresh flat parsley. more olive oil, salt and pepper....then eat em. They were delicious tonight.

Best way to eat these "cèpes" for me is indeed high temperature, butter and olive oil, garlic and parsley.

Try risotto con porcini, if you haven't yet.

It's as simple as it sounds. Fry an onion until it starts to colour, add the mushrooms, continue to fry for a few minutes. Then follow your basic risotto recipe, using arborio rice and chicken stock. When al dente, add a nut of butter and some parmesan, season with salt and black pepper, and serve.

The best mushrooms I have eaten were prepared by the great young chef, Davide Palluda in Canale D'Alba in Piemonte. They were soaked in olive oil, garlic and parsely and then grilled on the barby like a steak...seared and croustillant on the outside and moelleux on the inside. Perfection.


Cheers

alden wrote:The best mushrooms I have eaten were prepared by the great young chef, Davide Palluda in Canale D'Alba in Piemonte. They were soaked in olive oil, garlic and parsely and then grilled on the barby like a steak...seared and croustillant on the outside and moelleux on the inside. Perfection.


Cheers

Recently I've discovered at my local cheese store a Brie stuffed with truffles. The cheese is not too strong (contrary to general Bries) and generously stuffed with the delicacy. It is to die for. If Parisians are interested I can provide details.

alden wrote: My favorite is called "funghi trifolati" or truffled mushrooms. Heat a good skillet, add olive oil and rooms, sear at high heat, add loads of chopped garlic,fresh flat parsley. more olive oil, salt and pepper....then eat em. They were delicious tonight.

Michael, I find mushrooms tricky to pair with wine and I usually go for something that would match the style of the preparation rather than the room itself.
Any dry crisp Sicilian white wine that you would recommend to go along? Anything else? What did you have with the Ferra?

Hectorm

I like light red wines with mushrooms. I am drinking a fantastic local red made by a lovely girl named Arianna Occhipinti...its her Frapatto 2010. The wine is like a Burgandy with the spice of a Cote Rotie...superbe and very hard to find these days.

Otherwise I would drink a good Pinot Noir from Burgandy or Alsace, or a Beaujolais village wine like Fleurie, Morgon or Chiroubles.

Cheers

Occhipinti's Il Frappato is available in a wine store a few minutes from home and I will certainly try it soon.
I guess that they have been growing together with the Ferra mushrooms for a long time, and that surely is a good start for a match.
Thank you for the tip.

Hectorm

If you can get some bottles of the Frappato, buy as much as you can. It is the most sought after natural wine in Paris right now and it is getting tough to find in Sicily. Arianna has nothing in her cellar to sell. I have reserved ten cases of the vintage 2011 to come out in April. She also makes a delicious white called SP 68.

Cheers