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Monsoon is the right time for mushroom cultivation and hence a good time to have it on your menu. Mushrooms are both nutritious and delicious, and lend themselves to a variety of preparations.
They come in different varieties, button mushroom being the most commonly available and oft-used. Among the more exotic varieties is Enokitake mushroom — delicate pin-sized heads, pale-coloured with snowy-white caps — very popular in Japanese cuisine for its sweet and almost fruity flavour and presentation value. Then there is ceps, popular in France where they are known as cèpes and in Italy where they are called porcini. These meaty, bun-shaped mushrooms have a fine, almost suede-like, texture and a good flavour. Shiitake are Japanese fungi and fall under the category of tree mushrooms. They have a meaty, slightly acidic flavour and are best had with a sprinkling of sesame oil and a little soy sauce. Portobello mushrooms have large caps with a brown colour. These mushrooms are very meaty and can be used in a variety of cuisines; they taste best when grilled with a drizzle of olive oil.
Tips to handle mushrooms
Mushrooms should be used fresh as they can lose their aroma and flavour when canned or frozen.
Mushrooms should not be washed, but wiped with a damp cloth or a piece of kitchen paper.
Mushrooms are largely composed of water and shrink noticeably during cooking. They also take up a lot of fat as they cook. So it is best to use butter or a good olive oil for frying.
Fry mushrooms briskly over a moderately high heat so that as they shrink, the water evaporates and they don’t stew in their own juice.
For the same reason, do not fry too many mushrooms at once in the same pan.
Grilled Ceps with Baked Potato
Serves 2
Ingredients
Ceps mushroom 4
Butter (clarified) 2tbsp
Potato (medium-sized) 4
Onion (chopped) 1
Cream ½ cup
Chive (chopped) 1tbsp
Salt to taste
Cracked black pepper to taste
Method
Bake the potatoes with skin on in an oven at 180°C for 30 minutes or till cooked. Cut the top of the potatoes and scoop out the centre and reserve. To the scooped-out potato flesh, add the chopped onion, chives, cream and seasoning. Fill the above mixture into the potato shell. Bake in the oven for another 10 minutes. In a hot pan saute the ceps with the clarified butter. Season. Serve the ceps
on top of the baked potato.
Baked Portobello Mushrooms
Serves 2
Ingredients
Portobello mushrooms 4
Chilli and garlic olive oil 4tbsp
Salt to taste
Cracked black pepper
to taste
Mix of Emmental and Gruyere cheese 100g
Parsley sprigs 4
Method
ean the Portobello mushrooms and rub them with chilli and garlic olive oil. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Put grated cheese on top of the mushrooms. Bake in an oven at 200°C till the cheese is molten and the mushrooms are soft. Garnish with fresh parsley sprigs.
Salad of Enokitake and Arugula with Blue Cheese Dressing
Serves 2
Ingredients
A bunch of arugula leaves
Enokitake mushrooms 100g
Sake (Japanese drink) 1 cup
ue cheese 50g
ive oil 50ml
Milk ½ cup
Salt to taste
Cracked black pepper 1tsp
Fresh herbs 2 sprigs
Method
Soak the mushrooms in sake. Clean the arugula leaves in chilled water and refrigerate. Warm the milk and add the blue cheese. Blend the milk and cheese mix in a blender with oil until it forms a creamy dressing. Remove the mushrooms from the sake.
Toss the arugula and the soaked mushrooms in the above dressing, with the herbs and seasoning.
Serves 2
Ingredients
Noodles of your choice 250g
Fresh shiitake 6
Green peas ½ cup
Light soy 2tbsp
Sesame oil 1tsp
Garlic (chopped) 1tbsp
Spring onions (chopped) 1tbsp
Coriander leaves (chopped) 1tbsp
Togarashi chilli powder 1tsp
Method
Boil noodles and toss with some oil. In a hot wok, saute the garlic; add mushrooms and green peas. Add the noodles, light soy, sesame oil, and Togarashi chilli powder and toss till all the ingredients are mixed uniformly. Finally, sprinkle chopped spring onions and coriander.
