The Currabinny Cooks: Creating dinners with mushrooms
James Kavanagh and William Murray share three recipes with mushrooms they have been playing around with recently. Picture: Bríd O'Donovan
I have a complicated relationship with mushrooms. I can be frequently heard saying incredibly dramatic things like “I hate mushrooms” and “get those mushrooms away from me”.
I say these things, but if I’m honest, I do not really believe them. I would refuse to eat them until quite recently whereby I resolved to force myself to get a handle on my irrational fear.
I still largely avoid them in restaurants, my own personal journey with them has had to start at home, learning how to use them in the kitchen. If there is a certain food you just cannot eat, I would strongly suggest tackling the fear head on in the kitchen.
Cook it every which way, tasting tentatively as you go. My education in mushrooms has lead me to a place where I am actually quite excited by them. There are so many varieties, each with different textures and flavours. I am still in a place where I only enjoy them if I cook them myself, I have to have full control over how the mushrooms are prepared and cooked. This might seem absolutely bonkers to some people but for me, I am quite proud of how far I have come.
There is much mystery and folklore surrounding mushrooms. They hide in the dark or cling to decaying tree bark. Sometimes, on a patch of grass, they will arrange themselves in perfect circles. If you step into one of these ‘fairy rings’ , you may be forced to dance forever by the witches or fairies that created this magical ring. It is easy to see why mushrooms have such magical associations.
The most magical ‘Fly Agaric Toadstools’, a visual feature in our childhood fairytales are beautiful but definitely poisonous. This time of year is perfect for mushroom hunting. If you do head out, make sure to bring a little book of mushrooms to help you identify the edible ones from the poisonous ones. You will be surprised by the varied shapes and sizes of the varieties which you can actually consume.
The most commonly eaten here are of course chestnut mushrooms, chanterelles (girolles), Ceps (procini) and shiitake.
You can find these quite easily in good green grocers and farmers markets. Other varieties that are mainly just consumed by foragers include the cheerful wax cap mushrooms, which pop up like jewels in the grass. Morels, bay bolets, horse mushrooms, chicken of the woods, puffballs and pied de mouton can all be found by intrepid mushroom hunters in the woodlands and fields during Autumn. Here are three recipes which I have been playing around with recently.
This is a beautifully gentle risotto recipe which uses an earthy broth made simply from steeping some dried shiitake mushrooms in boiling water. Dried shiitake mushrooms make a wonderful vegetarian dashi which can be used to make also sorts of broths, ramens, soups and in this case risotto. Dried mushrooms are a wonderful store cupboard ingredient, especially for adding a beef like kick to vegetarian dishes. They need very little soaking, no more than 20 minutes and your mushrooms will be reconstituted and the steeping water imbued with earthy flavour and a beef like aroma.
Serves 2
- 20g dried shiitake mushrooms (you can use dried porcini as well)
- 600ml milk
- 300ml of shiitake steeping water
- 1 bay leaf
- 10 black peppercorns
- Half an onion, peeled
- 2 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 100g parmesan, grated
- Handful of parsley or tarragon, chopped
- 400g risotto rice
- 60g butter
- Olive oil
Steep the mushrooms in 300ml of hot water and leave for 20 minutes. In a medium sized saucepan, bring the milk to the boil along with the bay leaves, peppercorns and onion half. Remove from the heat and set aside for 20 minutes or so. Remove the reconstituted mushrooms from the steeping water and slice thinly. Discard the bay leaves, onion half and as many peppercorns as you can pick out. Combine the water with the milk and stir well.
Put the butter and a little olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the sliced shallots and crushed garlic, cooking until the shallot is translucent. Stir in the rice, coating it well in the buttery shallot and onion. Add the milk stock, ladle by ladle, stirring well as you go for about 30 minutes until the rice is cooked. Stir in the grated cheese and chopped herbs along with an optional knob of butter and serve.
Also known commonly as Girolles, Chanterelle mushrooms are perhaps my favourite mushroom. They taste divinely autumnal, with earthy, woody flavour. They are particularly delicious, simply pan fried in lots of butter, a handful of herbs and a pinch of sea salt. For this pickle, you want to briefly sauté the mushrooms as this will release their amazing flavour. This is a great way of storing mushrooms when you get a large glut. There flavour will actually become more enhanced the longer you preserve them.
- 150 - 200g chanterelle mushrooms
- 75ml rapeseed oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 40ml sherry
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 40ml of sherry vinegar ( you can use rice or white wine vinegar as well)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Brush the mushrooms to remove any dirt and tear the larger ones into smaller pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil in the pan and add the mushrooms, sautéing for around 4 minutes, season very lightly. Remove from the heat and put the mushrooms in a medium to small sterilised jar.
Mix together the rapeseed oil, vinegar, sugar, crushed garlic, pinch of sea salt and black pepper along with a tablespoon of water. Pour this into the jar covering the mushrooms completely. Add the two sprigs of thyme and seal. Keep in the fridge and once opened, eat within two weeks.
This is a little piece of autumnal bliss. Flakey butter puff pastry, nutty, earthy mushrooms, salty lardons, walnuts, tarragon and cream. Make this for yourself when you want some comfort. It doesn’t take long to make. Use whatever mushrooms you like, chestnut, ceps and chanterelles would be the best.
- 400g of mushrooms (ceps, chestnut, chanterelles or combination)
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 100g lardons
- 50g walnuts, roughly chopped
- 2 slices of white bread, roughly chopped (no crusts)
- 150ml cream
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 80g butter
- 200g store-bought puff pastry
- Handful of tarragon chopped.
- 1 beaten egg
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Slice or tear your mushrooms into bitesize, even pieces.
Sauteé the shallots and garlic with some butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the lardons after a minute or two. Cook for. A further two minutes and then add the chopped walnuts and bread. After a further minute, add the cream and bring everything together in the hot pan so you have a sort of rough filling. You want the cream to thicken.
Roll out the pastry and cut into a round. The thickness should be around 1/4 inch.
Place the pastry round on a prepared baking sheet. Spread the filling on top, leaving a good sized perimeter around the edge. Place the mushrooms on top, season with sea salt, black pepper and some chopped tarragon. Brush the mushrooms with melted butter or a little oil. Turn in the perimeter, almost like a free form tart or galette. You just want it so that none of the filling with be falling out. Brush the pastry with a beaten egg. You can pour the rest over the mushrooms into the tart if you like.
Place in the oven for 30 minutes until the pastry has puffed up around the edges and has turned golden. Garnish with some more tarragon and eat warm.
