Mushroom Recipes
My love of mushrooms goes back as far as I can remember. I grew up in the countryside, and in the autumn months, many joyful afternoons were spent walking home through the fields, collecting field mushrooms and horse mushrooms. These original wild counterparts to the familiar button mushroom are similar to the latter, but with much more flavour. That's not to say I'm not a fan of the humble button mushroom, quite the opposite in fact. I believe it to be one of the most underrated common ingredients in the world.
I nearly always have some button mushrooms in my fridge. They are so versatile. From the middle of the summer onwards to the end of autumn however, I'm in search of girolles (a.k.a. chanterelles), which are one of the tastiest of the common wild edible mushrooms available. Over the years I've learned that they tend to reside in mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland, often next to silver birch and often next to blueberries. I have a few reliable woodland spots that yield basketful after basketful each year, and I will never tire of them. See below for my recipes using girolles, and other wild funghi such as ceps and wood blewitts.
