There are two main categories of mushrooms - the familiar cultivated types such as button, chestnut and flat and the more exotic looking wild varieties such as ceps and chanterelles.
Brown cap mushrooms see Chestnut mushrooms.
The most common type of mushroom, these are readily available. They have creamy white caps with pink gills which darken to beige as they grow.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Whole in salads, casseroles and pasta bakes or sliced in sauces, pies and soups.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
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: Button mushrooms do not require much cooking - fry for 4-5 minutes or add to dishes 5-10 minutes before the end of cooking time.
Known as cèpes in
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Add cooked ceps to omelettes, pasta or add to stir-fries and mixed mushroom dishes.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
To prepare: Scrape the spongy underside away before cooking (it goes soggy) and wipe clean with kitchen paper.
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.
These creamy-yellow mushrooms are a distinctive frilly trumpet shape with a slightly rubbery texture. They have a firm flesh with a subtle, fruity flavour.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Serve with scrambled eggs for a tasty breakfast, add to creamy pasta sauces or simply serve on toast.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
To prepare: They can be a bit tricky to clean - dirt gets stuck under the gills, so they need to be rinsed thoroughly under running water and then gently dried with kitchen paper.
To cook: Sauté in a little butter to release the juices, then turn the heat up to concentrate the flavour.
These have a strong taste and a meaty texture, they have a similar appearance to a button mushroom but are a darker colour. The mushrooms should be open, but not too flat, exposing the pink to dark brown gills on the underside.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: They are perfect eaten raw or lightly cooked.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the refrigerator to keep for a few days.
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.
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.
Uses: Use with or instead of button mushrooms. They are particularly good in meat and game dishes.
To store: Keep in the fridge, in a paper bag for up to 5 days.
To prepare: Wipe with a kitchen towel or rinse briefly and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary.
Named after the enoki tree that it grows on, the wild variety has a tiny yellow-orange cap with a long, slender stem, the more common cultivated variety are a creamy colour. They have a sweet, fruity flavour with a slight crunch and are native to
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: They are used in Japanese cookery to add flavour to soups, stews and salads.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
To prepare: Wipe the mushrooms clean with kitchen paper, trim the roots at the base and separate the stems before serving.
A ready-mixed 200g pack of exotic organic mushrooms which contains oyster, shiitake and horse mushrooms.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Add cooked exotic mushrooms to omelettes, pasta sauces or serve simply with brown bread and butter.
To store: Keep in the fridge in the pack and consume by the best before date.
To prepare: Rinse briefly under cold running water and dry before use. Do not peel. Chop roughly before cooking.
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.
These large mushrooms are matured for longer to achieve a deliciously meaty flavour. They are grown on Dutch farms using a straw-based compost and are exclusive to Waitrose.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Slice and serve as a side dish or add to casseroles or stir-fries. Gigante mushrooms are also ideal for stuffing and baking for a main course or starter.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for 2-3 days.
To prepare: Rinse briefly under cold running water and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary. If baking and stuffing remove the stalk before stuffing.
To cook: Grill or fry sliced gigantes in a little butter for 5-10 minutes. To bake, top with butter and place in an ovenproof dish with 4 tbsp cold water, cook in a preheated oven at 190(C, gas mark 5 for 45 minutes or until tender.
So called because of their fan-like shape. They grow naturally in woods, in clusters of overlapping tiers, but the cultivated varieties are grown on composted wheat straw. They have a subtle flavour and a chewy texture. Oyster mushrooms are commonly grey but yellow and pink ones are also available. However these lose their colour once cooked.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Add to pasta recipes, risotto or stir-fry with other types of mushroom.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
To prepare: Wipe the mushrooms with a kitchen towel and trim the end of the stems. Cook them whole or cut or tear into lengthways strips.
To cook: Fry in vegetable oil, grill or bake beside joints in a roasting tin.
Porcinci are wild mushrooms native to the Alpine regions of
Uses: Soaked dried porcini can be added to a variety of savoury dishes in the same way as fresh mushrooms. They are particularly good in pasta dishes, risotto, soups, stews and omelettes. Porcini go particularly well with garlic or fresh herbs such as flat leaf parsley or thyme. The soaking water can be included in risottos, stews and soups.
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.
To prepare: Pour 175ml boiling water onto 25g porcini mushrooms and soak for about 15 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the soaking water, and chop or leave whole as desired.
These are large mushrooms with a meaty texture and a wonderful aroma, they can be up to 10cm in diameter. Portabella mushrooms are also known as field mushrooms.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Sauté whole flat mushrooms in a little butter and garlic or remove the stalk and stuff and bake.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
To prepare: Wipe with a kitchen towel or rinse briefly and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary.
Medium-sized brown mushrooms (about 7cm in diameter) that have a firm texture and a nutty flavour. Waitrose sell prepacked portabellini mushrooms in 250g packs.
Uses: Portabellini mushrooms can be sliced and eaten raw in salads or lightly cooked and included in soups, pasta dishes, casseroles or sauces. They can also be stuffed and baked.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the refrigerator and use by the best before date. To prepare: Rinse thoroughly under cold running water and dry before use. Do not peel. Leave the mushrooms whole or slice as necessary. If baking and stuffing remove the stalk before stuffing.
To cook: Grill or fry sliced portabellinis in a little butter for 5-6 minutes. To bake, top with butter or a savoury stuffing and place in an ovenproof dish with 4 tbsp cold water, cook in a preheated oven at
Pronounced 'sheetarky', these mushrooms originated in
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Add to sauces and stocks, wrap in foil with fish, white meat or vegetables, or chop and use in stuffings for poultry, fish or meat.
To store: Place in a paper bag in the salad drawer of the fridge to keep for a few days.
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.
To cook: Fry in butter or oil; or brush with oil and cook under the grill.
Many of the more exotic varieties of mushroom are available dried. When reconstituted they have a concentrated flavour.
Wild mushrooms with a nutty flavour, these are especially popular in
Uses: To add to rice and pasta dishes.
To store: Keep in a dry, dark cupboard for up to 1 year.
To prepare: To rehydrate, soak in warm water for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain using a sieve, reserve the soaking liquor for use in recipes too.
These have a strong, almost meaty flavour. They are used widely in Oriental cuisine and are also known as Chinese black mushrooms.
Uses: Shiitake mushrooms add flavour and interest to stir-fries, sauces and soups.
To store: Keep in a dry, dark cupboard for up to 1 year.
To prepare: To rehydrate, soak in warm water for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain using a sieve, reserve the soaking liquor for use in recipes too.
A delicious combination of cep, chanterelle and fairy ring mushrooms which can be used in a range of recipes.
Uses: In a wide variety of dishes including risottos, pasta dishes, soups and stir-fries.
To store: Keep in a dry, dark cupboard for up to 1 year.
To prepare: To rehydrate, soak in warm water for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then drain using a sieve, reserve the soaking liquor for use in recipes too.
Here is a slightly more complicated recipe compared to the Spaghetti all’Amatriciana. If you want to eat an authentic, tasty risotto, don’t trust the books that say throw in a few mushrooms, stir and there you go…the best risottos come from using top quality ingredients, spending time not to rush to the end result and most of all putting a lot of love in to your preparation.
Ingredients
2 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 large onion or one shallot, chopped
100g/4oz chestnut mushrooms, sliced
225g/8oz mixed wild or forest mushrooms
350g/12oz arborio rice
Half glass of dry white wine
1 litre/2 pints hot Chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
25g/1oz butter
pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve
Fresh bread crumbs
Preparing the Mushrooms:
To achieve the best flavour as well as lots of texture in your risotto, I like to buy as many different types of mixed forest or wild mushroom as I can find e.g. shitake, morel, oyster, chanterelles and not forgetting the king of all mushrooms – the Porcini.
If you like Porcini mushroom (sometimes called Ceps in English, Cepes in
Chop all the different types of mushroom to prepare them for cooking.
Soak the dried porcini mushrooms and other dried forest mushroom you are using in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well.
Saucepan:
In a small pot, heat a chicken (recommended) or vegetable stock cube in
Frying Pan 1:
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add half the chopped onion.
Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Please note - if the onion burns, throw it away and start again as it will taint the rest of the dish!
Add the mushrooms (including fresh and soaked) and fry for a further 3 minutes until browned and coated in the onion-flavoured oil. Add a pinch of salt. Add about 2 ladles of the heated Chicken stock broth and leave the mushrooms to cook for a further 5 minutes.
Frying Pan 2:
Melt some butter in a different pan (large enough for the risotto).
Chop up the rest of your onion finely and fry in the butter for 5 mins until golden
Add the Arborio or carnaroli rice and stir with the butter for 2-3 minutes to coat the rice with the flavoured oil.
Add ½ glass of white wine and fry for another 3 mins, allowing the alcohol to evaporate.
This is when you start to make the risotto
Add the mushrooms from pan 1 to pan 2 to amalgamate with the rice. Mix the rice and mushrooms together and start to add your stock slowly, 1-2 ladles at a time. Every few minutes add 2 ladles of stock to your frying pan and allow your rice mixture to absorb. Keep doing this until all your stock is used up, which should take about 20 minutes in total.
Don’t cook for much more than 20 mins as this will over cook the rice.
The risotto will look like a real risotto now
Grate loads of parmesan cheese on to it and mix through. (make certain that you have bought Parmigiano Reggiano as there are many copy parmesan cheeses on the market that don’t have the same quality or flavour).
Also some ground pepper if you like – taste and add salt if needed.
Pour the risotto from the pan in to a large oven proof dish
As an special secret touch, sprinkle real bread crumbs over the top and put in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
This added tip makes the rice even thicker and richer as well as giving it a crunchy layer on top.
Serve steaming at the table into each guest’s bowl and sprinkle chopped parsley over the top to decorate.
For the nomadic Abruzzese shepherds, guanciale was very useful and important; during their days wandering through the mountains and leading their flock to pasture, it was necessary for them to carry only highly nourishing foods that were easy to preserve and to transport.
For this reason, in the beginning, guanciale and pecorino cheese, were the only and main ingredients of pasta known as Gricia.
Only at the end of the seventeen century, after the discovery of
My Grandad on my father's side was from Amatrice, so in his memory, my first recipe written on this blog will be, without doubt, The "Spaghetti alla Amatriciana”.
Amatrice is a mountain village situated at the regional border of Lazio and Abruzzo about
I think everybody that loves Italian food should have discovered the taste of this famous dish
It is made with simple, natural and nutritious ingredients and has a dainty and appetising taste.
A piece of advice from the chef… to make it properly, never substitute, add or take out any ingredient or it will be “your version of", but not the authentic recipe.
Serves 4.
· 500g (1lb 3/2 oz) Pasta Spaghetti, Bucatini or rigatoni.
· 100g (3 ½ oz) Guanciale fat pork cheek cut in thick cubes.
· 500g (1lb 3/2 oz) fresh
· 100g (3 ½ oz) grated Pecorino cheese not too salty (from Amatrice).
· 1 spoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
· ½ glass of white dry wine.
· a pinch of chilli peppers (not too much - approx 1/4 tsp of seeds)
· Salt as needed.
Peel, seed and cut the fresh San Marzano tomatoes into thin slices; to make the peeling easier, put them first in to a pot of boiling water and then in to some ice cold water.
If you are using tinned tomatoes, follow the same directions.
Cut the guanciale into thick cubes and put them in to an iron frying pan with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of chilli peppers; keep on cooking on a high flame for a few minutes until the ingreadients become lightly browned.
Add a little wine and keep the flame high for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.
Add the tomatoes, salt them and continue to cook on a medium flame for 5-8 minutes to amalgamate the flavours and create the perfect sauce consistency.
When the sauce is ready, turn off the flame and stir in 1/2 the pecorino to the sauce. The other half should be sprinkled on top of the dish when served.
Meanwhile boil the water in a separate large pot. When the water is boiling, add the pasta.
It is very important with any italian meal to always cook the pasta "al dente". (This generally means one or two minutes less than the time written on the pasta packet).
When your rigatoni, spaghetti or bucatini pasta is cooked to the right consistency 'al dente', drain and add it to the sauce in the frying pan. It is a vital part of the process to gently cook and toss the pasta with the sauce for around a minute after it has been drained, as this allows the pasta to absorb all the flavours from the pan.
Place the pasta in to a deep bowl and sprinkle the rest of your pecorino cheese over the pasta.
serve immediately.
