Mushroom season part 2

There exist a lot of quick-to-prepare dishes, which are so delicious despite their total simplicity. Two, or three ingredients of good quality and we are in a culinary heaven.

What are your favorite, simple and quick dishes (or accompaniments?) made out of two or three ingredients, which you love, and you like to come back to? Share with us!

Fried Lactarius Delicious mushrooms (or saffron milk caps, red pine mushrooms, in Polish - "rydze") is that type of delicacies.

To prepare this very seasonal Polish hot starter, you need only two ingredients – some nice, fresh mushrooms and a lot of butter (without counting salt and pepper). And a large frying pan also, so the mushrooms can fry evenly. 

Those carrot colour - sometimes slightly red - mushrooms are not as easy to buy as ceps, chanterelles or boletus badius, but still, they are popular in Poland (it is quite easy to find them, particularly in the south of the country). They are still quite cheap on the Kleparz market in Krakow (around 5 euro per kg), as in the south of the country we have a lot of pine forests – the tree, under which those mushrooms like to grow the most.

One can find them across Europe and North America.  Last year, I saw them in La Grande Epicerie de Paris, but the price was prohibitive and nobody was buying them.

Pine mushrooms are best when fried, grilled or pickled (how to pickle forest mushrooms, check here). This is how they traditionally are served in my country. I also used fried lactarius for the stuffing of my pierogi. Two people who tasted them confirmed that they are good enough to be shown on the blog – so check out my next post!

In Poland, we are used to dry forest mushrooms and we use them out of the season for the preparation of many dishes.  However, pine mushrooms are not suitable for drying out, as opposed to boletus or ceps. Avoid adding them into soups because they are not suitable for boiling. Just grilling or frying them releases their taste. Their flat and wide caps are ideal for this type of preparation. The taste is a bit nutty, particular. Use clarified butter in this recipe, which has higher smoke point than regular butter, to prevent the ingredients from burning.

Pine Mushrooms Fried in Butter 
Ingredients:

Serves 2 as a starter

300 g fresh pine mushrooms

60 g butter

Salt

Pepper

1. Delicately clean mushrooms from leftovers of the forest. Scratch the stems to remove soil. Rinse the mushrooms delicately under cold water. Separate stipes (mushroom stalks) from caps.

2. In a saucepan, slowly melt butter over minimum heat (do not stir). Remove from heat and skim the foam off the surface. Spoon the butter into a bowl. Discard the milky sediment.

3. In a hot large frying pan, heat butter, add mushrooms (they should not be crowded, so they can grill evenly) and fry them on each side for about 4 to 7 minutes, until nicely grilled (depending on the thickness their caps) and until they release their juices and absorb them back in (when frying over high heat, they should not release a lot of juice). Salt and pepper and serve immediately with slices of country bread.

Bon appétit!