Dried Ceps (Porcini) Mushrooms 100g Bag

Product Information

To prepare: Wipe the mushrooms clean with kitchen paper, trim the roots at the base and separate the stems before serving. Exotic medley Inexperienced foragers can have trouble distinguishing ceps from other less desirable pored mushrooms or boletes, often due to wishful thinking. This is not the worst of failings as only the red pored and rare devil’s bolete is dangerously poisonous, though several can be bitter and indigestible. It doesn’t help that ceps are very fast growing and their appearance changes rapidly during the few days it takes them to emerge, mature and begin to rot. In this recipe, I use 40 grams (1,4 once) of dried ceps, which is only 10 grams per person. The idea to the recipe is to prepare a smooth purée (or more lumpy mashed potatoes if this is what you prefer) in which you will add ceps. The first thing to do is to rehydrate mushrooms in milk for at least 1 hour. Don’t throw away the rehydratation liquid when you drain mushrooms as you will use it in the purée. This milk gets all the flavours of ceps. I choose to briefly sauté ceps in butter, add the drained milk to reduce a bit, then mix to get a smooth cep purée. Finally this is simply added when you mash potatoes, with more butter, cream and milk according to the texture and smoothness you wish. Uses: Add cooked exotic mushrooms to omelettes, pasta sauces or serve simply with brown bread and butter.

These are large mushrooms with a meaty texture and a wonderful aroma, they can be up to 10cm in diameter. Available all year. To cook: Fry in butter over a high heat or grill, brushed with olive oil for 5-10 minutes, sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley and garlic. Chanterelle

Method

For more advanced gourmet mycophagists only…I’ve discovered that if you can catch your ceps at the very early stages of Hypomyces chrysospermus infection – characterised by the odd rusty spot, perhaps the very beginnings of mould/mushiness and a somewhat cheesy smell – this actually adds wonderful parmesan-like umami to the mushrooms once dried. Really good, but i’m only talking about the very early stages of infection here. Begin by allowing the pastry to come to room temperature, then carefully unroll the sheet of pastry and roll it out on a well-floured surface to 14 x 14 inches (35.5 cm x 35.5 cm).

Drain the churros on a paper towel and, while still warm, roll them in cinnamon sugar. Serve warm with room-temperature cajeta in a bowl on the side. Uses: Serve with scrambled eggs for a tasty breakfast, add to creamy pasta sauces or simply serve on toast. To prepare: Cultivated mushrooms are usually very clean: just wipe with a kitchen towel or rinse briefly and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary. To cook: Sauté in a little butter to release the juices, then turn the heat up to concentrate the flavour. Chestnut While the onions are cooking, prepare the mushrooms. If you are using fresh ceps, first of all wipe them carefully with a damp cloth to remove any excess dirt. Trim off the end of the stalk of each mushroom and, using a small sharp knife, peel the outer layer off each stalk. (Don't be alarmed by the amount you will lose doing this - you should end up with about 1 lb 2 oz/500 g prepared mushrooms.) If you are using large chestnut mushrooms, you just need to wipe them.Fly agaric ( amanita muscaria), the miller ( Clitopilus prunulus) and peppery boletes ( Chalciporus piperatus) are often clues to good hunting -grounds, especially under spruce trees. I find the relationship between ceps, spruce trees, the miller and the peppery bolete to be so reliable that I believe (though i’ve seen no scientific research to prove this) that the relationship is more than just shared habitat, but a complex interdependency. It has been known for some years that peppery boletes are parasitic on fly agaric mycelia, but I suspect there is more at play here. Who knows what complex battles, alliances and trades are going on beneath our feet!? To store: Keep dried porcini in a cool, dry place and consume by the best before date. Once soaked in water use within 2 hours. Porcinci are wild mushrooms native to the Alpine regions of Italy and France (where they are known as ceps). They have a distinctive aroma and rich flavour. Fresh porcini are only available in late summer and autumn so the dried variety is more commonly used. Only a small amount of dried porcini, around 25-50g, is needed to add an intense flavour to a variety of savoury dishes. Waitrose sell dried porcini mushrooms in the Waitrose Cooks' Ingredients range. Cultivated or mixed wild fresh mushrooms can be used instead of porcini. For the churro dough, on high heat boil everything together in a pot, except for the eggs and flour. This should be done only until the butter has just melted.

Add all but the last spoonful (which may be gritty) of the mushroom liquid to the onion mixture and reduce until it’s almost gone. Combine the onion with the mushrooms, and season. To prepare: There is no need to wash, just wipe with a kitchen towel. Remove the tough stems and slice or leave the mushroom cap whole. These are a similar shape to button mushrooms and are from the same family. However they have light tan to rich brown caps and a firm texture. They have a stronger, earthier flavour than button mushrooms.

More to discover

Uses: Sauté whole flat mushrooms in a little butter and garlic or remove the stalk and stuff and bake. Ecology –Ceps are Mycorrhizal fungi, working with their tree partners by helping in their uptake of water, phosphorus, nitrogen and zinc in return for energy from photosynthesis in the form of sugars. Carbon sequestration by fungi is often an overlooked area of climate science. Ceps, and boletus species in general, can be important food and habitat to insects, slugs, rodents and I’ve even heard of deer nibbling on them. This fascinating paper shows that individual mushroom species can have specific relationships with individual insect species. In the case of ceps, (mostly) flies of the pegomya genus, and (some) fungal gnats of Sciaridae family use them as food home & nursery for their larvae. It has been postulated that insects could play a role in the reproductive strategies of some fungi (beyond the obvious stinkhorns) and who knows what other useful interactions they have with complex fungal lifecycles? The evolution of veils/rings ( annulus), webs ( cortina) and slime on the underside of some mushroom species is a direct defence to deter insects before spores have matured. Some slow growing fungi such as chanterelles deter insects chemically ( read the science of this here). That ceps have evolved no such strategy suggests to me that they they are happy partners with insects as well as trees! It seems likely that their very aromatic deliciousness has evolved to attract insects… And maybe humans too? Ceps can also play host to other fungi, notably the bolete eater fungus Hypomyces chrysospermus, and appear to have complex relationships with Fly agaric ( amanita mascaria), the miller ( Clitopilus prunulus) and peppery boletes ( Chalciporus piperatus) – more on which below.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with lightly oiled foil. Put the ginger, green chilli and cumin seeds into a pestle and mortar along with a small pinch of salt, bash to a coarse paste and leave to one side.Line a ceramic dish at least 40cm long with clingfilm, letting it overhang the sides, and place the salmon fillet skin-side down inside the dish. Spoon the spice cure evenly over the salmon, making sure the whole fillet is covered. Wrap the clingfilm tightly around the fillet so the mixture stays in place. Refrigerate for 3 days to cure. Next, make the filling. Heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the butter and half the oil. When the fat is bubbling away, add both the soaked and fresh mushrooms, along with the parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the mushrooms around the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, until softened. From food writer Liz O’Keefe’s upcoming mushroom cookbook co-authored with the Mushroom Man Michael Hyams.