The porcini mushroom hunting season is now drawing to a close, but last week my mate Marco gave me an overflowing punnet of these fine beasts that he and his mum had foraged themselves. They were fantastic, meaty, flavoursome and they keep their fleshy bulk even when you cook them. I dished them up on a rosti, a recipe stolen from over the border in Switzerland.
Ingredients for 4 people
Fresh porcini mushrooms – 150g (or 30g dried porcini)
Potatoes – 550g of a waxy variety
Butter – 3 tablespoons
Onion – one
Olive oil – for frying
Chestnut mushrooms – 150g
Garlic – 1 clove
Double cream – 4 tablespoons
Parsley – bunch
If you’re using dried porcini, re-hydrate them in a cupful of boiling water.
Then put the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan of salted water and bring to the boil. Parboil for about 10-15 mins, depending on their size. Then drain, run under cold water and peel and grate the spuds.
Finely slice the onion and fry it till golden in 2/3rds of the butter. Add the cooked onions to the potatoes and mix in with a good dose of salt and pepper.
Now over to the sauce. Slice the chestnut mushrooms (including the porcini if you are using fresh ones) and sauté with the finely chopped garlic, in the rest of the butter, for 5 minutes. If you are using dried porcini, now add them and sauté the mix for another 5 minutes. Add the cream and chopped parsley.
Heat the olive oil in the frying pan, take a handful of the potato mix and gently mould it into a palm sized pattie. Fry it on a medium heat until golden brown on both sides, gently turning it over.
Place a pattie on a plate and spoon over the mushroom mixture. Serve with a lamb chop or some good Italian sausages.
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[...] I’d organised the trip as a birthday present for Jason. He is reasonably obsessive about mushrooms, though he is inevitably seen as a mushroom dilettante by his properly obsessive Italian counterparts some of whom will go to any lengths (up to and including death) to snag the perfect porcino. [...]