Mushroom Recipes

Penny Bun Starter

This is a simple and delicious first course that could, if you prefer, be served as the highlight of a main course - just add steak and chips!

Take a fresh Penny Bun Boletus edulis and, retaining the stem as well as the cap, slice it vertically into slabs 5 or 6mm (1/4 inch) thick.

Sprinkle with olive oil and then grill for 30 seconds under a medium-high grill.

Turn and grill the other side for a further 30 seconds.

Serve while still hot.

 

Wild Mushroom Soup

A soup made from fresh wild mushrooms:

1. Collect 100g (about 1 lb) of wild mushrooms, for example in spring you could use a mixture of Morels Morchella esculenta and St George's Mushroom Calocybe gambosa; in summer field mushrooms Agaricus campestris, and Chanterelles Cantharellus cibarius.
2. Chop the mushrooms and coat the chunks with flour.
3. Sauté in butter gently for five minutes.
4. Stir in two cups of fresh milk and a cup of single cream.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

There is a wonderful range of good edible mushrooms to choose from, including several of the Boletes, most Agaricus mushrooms, all of the Chanterelles, and some of the large Parasol mushrooms.

Shown here is Wood Hedgehog Hydnum repandum, which are ideal for this dish (and many others):

It is essential to make sure you know how to recognise the poisonous species, though. (Most edible fungi have lookalike Imposters that you will need to avoid.)

Salmon and Chanterelles

Serve this fish meal with your favourite selection of fresh vegetables:

1. Broil 100gm (3 oz) of salmon fillet per person for five minutes.
2. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil, add half an ounce of dried Chanterelles, simmer for five minutes and then drain off the water.
3. Sauté mixed diced vegetables with half a cup of dry white wine.
4. Place the salmon fillets in a nest of vegetables and arrange the mushrooms on top. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

 

Chicken Campestris

A main course for four people:

1. Marinate four chicken breast fillets in dry white wine for three hours.
2. Chop 1/2Kg of fresh Field Mushrooms Agaricus campestris with spring onions; add salt and pepper.
3. Brush melted butter onto a fillo pastry strip and place the chicken diagonally across one corner, adding a generous portion of mushrooms before wrapping each parcel into a neat triangle. 
4. Rewrap each portion with a second sheet of fillo pastry and place on a baking tray.
5. Bake at 190 degrees C for 35 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and brown.