Bonus: Porcini Mushrooms

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1:30It's September, feels like we're all sharpening our pencils and coming back to school after a warm, beautiful summer. And I'm here with Sean Owen and Joseph Trevelli, our executive chefs at the River Cafe. Do you want to tell us about the ingredients that are coming in, the ones we're saying hello to, the ones we're saying goodbye to? It's the stereotypical cook's favourite time of year, I think, pretty much. Yeah, we're going into the chef's season now, aren't we? Definitely. Where there's an autumn, I guess, harvest and mushrooms are a kind of the staple of September, I think. They're so amazing and they're right slap, bang, start in season now.

2:08Definitely. When I came back from holidays and I went in the kitchen, it was the first thing. It's like, oh, they're porcini. So on this episode, we're going to talk about porcini. Let's just start from the very first thing, which is how to get one. In the country, would you tell somebody to pick one? You're probably best finding your local mushroom picker to get one. It's not easy to get them. You know, funnily enough, yesterday I found myself walking past the veg shop of an old supplier of ours. So, you know, I went and said hello. And obviously I'm like, it's this time of year. You know, what about all these mushrooms you used to bring us?

2:40You know, because we're in London, we're brilliantly placed because last year we had the amazing porcini from Sweden. a lot uh or from scotland we get them or from italy you know all that supposedly at least through italy um and you know also from the east and they're all wonderful but obviously the best are the local ones that you get the fast and he said that he can't buy them so much anymore because the people that used to go picking them um are now older and he says it's hard work you know because you everyone thinks it's expensive but actually because there's not much in it you've competing with all these people that are just going to pick porcinis because they want it anyway like you know we buy a day off but the old days of someone arriving with a car full of 20 kilos of mushrooms he said doesn't happen anymore and that's not because like the nature's changed it's just we used to have a lady used to go to wimbledon common didn't she and come in with the porcini and then we were always like oh let's get her followed we should follow her yeah so you can find out where she's getting from because we always have chef who is amazing yeah yeah and She wouldn't leave a trail because any reputable mushroom picker is not going to let anyone know where their patch is.

3:49So basically we're telling people all about porcini, but they probably can't get them. I think you can get them. Where I grew up, you can buy them. Like, you can buy them. You know, it's not impossible. Yeah, you can come and eat them at the River Cafe. Yeah, right. You're supposed to not pick any mushrooms unless you really know what you're doing. Yeah. So let's talk about what we're cooking. What will you cook tonight with the porcini? So I had them on the menu three times. I had them thinly sliced and raw on top of the beef carpaccio just seasoned with olive oil and lemon and a bit of fresh parmesan shaved on top.

4:23I had them slow cooked down to a real sludge, really strong, slow cooked down with pappadelli, fresh pappadelli. And then I had them on with the grouse roasted whole with the Barolo bruschetta. So you could have a three course porcini meal. I would definitely. That would be me. But for the home cook, somebody who might be listening at home, what do I do when I get them home? How do I clean a porcini? I would say if they've got a lot of mud on them, dried mud or the ground, you want to resist the urge to let them sit in a sink of water. Because you might think, oh, they're really dirty. I'll put them in the sink.

5:02Well, what we do is we use a peeler to peel the stem and cut off the little tiny bottom bit where it's been attached to the ground. And then we would get a damp cloth and wipe the cap with a damp cloth to get rid of any debris and then look underneath it for any extra dusty stuff. And then if it looks clean, I'd leave it at that. If you cut it and they have tiny, tiny holes in, that can be maggots. Quite often they're sold, there's a couple cut in half, so you can sort of inspect them, even we buy them like that. Yeah. Okay. So let's now think. So we've got the porcini attached to its stem. Yeah.

5:42And we've wiped the top with a cloth and we've peeled the stem with a peeler and we've cut off the base. Now what? Well, now you have to work out what you want to cook. I'd probably go for a roasted porcini because I just, I think that it is just so exciting and so visual. A great porcini could be the size of your hand or bigger than that. and you could just cut it in half, lengthways in half, or quarter if it's massive, or even leave it whole if you want. Hole's nice. Hole's nice. You can either cut the bottom of the mushroom and stick a sprig of thyme in or a sprig of garlic and then just put it in a pan, a saucepan with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast it in the oven until, I'd probably say a good, at least 10 minutes.

6:29What temperature? are about 220 degrees C, 450 F, something like that. I say a hot, hotish oven. You know the F's, that's really impressive. Is it? I never know the F's. I'm probably wrong. Let it cook for about 10 minutes in a hotish oven and then let it sit for a couple, five minutes or so. Maybe put some tinfoil on it. So it goes really soft. Yeah, that sounds really nice. Then rest a bit. And then you could have a fresh cannellini beans or you can have it on a bruschetta. You could have it with some prosciutto. it should be soft enough that in theory you could eat it with a fork or it's not hard to cut and it's very aromatic and perfumed and it just goes with everything you could have it with fish, you could have it with meat you could have it on its own, you could have it for breakfast My dad used to always make that, he'd go out foraging them before we got up and then come back and make the scrambled eggs with porcini before school.

7:20Scrambled eggs? Yeah. Wow Not every day, you know, this is like once in a while. Weekend I definitely was like a normal kid. I didn't like mushrooms like a regular kid. And then suddenly I like them. Remember, family a little bit gutted. Oh, no, there's like another person to share them with. It's really nice when they go into things. I love porcini cooked with potatoes, you know, over potatoes when the juice goes in the potatoes. Or the same would be, you know, if I think of my favourite risotto, it definitely would be porcini, I think. There is something about a fresh porcini risotto, which is really just magic.

7:54porcini and potatoes we've done it different ways the way i like it best here is cooked in this round tin and i remember making this with rose so well and you'd have just very thin layer of potatoes very um thin layer of parsley which would always go brown by the end and somehow that kind of added to it and then a big layer of porcini and another layer of potatoes and the layer of porcini and just olive oil and just put in the oven like that baked i'll be absolutely honest it doesn't look exquisite but it tastes absolutely magic so i've made that dish i remember getting shown how to make it by rose and already i've made it differently this is the great thing about having cooked with rose is that everyone thinks that she had the the way and the way they learned from her is the way but she always changed it every day i think for me the um the timing of porcini with polenta is one of my favorite ways of eating it because I would separate the stem from the the top and I think because I sometimes question cooking them whole because I think that the stem often takes a different timing for the from the top and so you might get the top which kind of melts and feels really good and that stem somehow separated feels like a stem rather than And to me, part of the mushroom.

9:19So I like to cut them separately. And then I would fry them in olive oil for quite a while. And I'd do probably in quite big pieces, you know, thick pieces. But I think that then with the polenta, there's your moment to choose the butter, which I just love. And the Parmesan. So I would never myself sprinkle cheese if I was having a mushroom next to it. You know, I just stir probably the cheese and butter into the polenta and then have the mushrooms, you know, sort of next to it. And yeah, for me, that is one of the great dishes. But is there something about the smell? It's so alluring, isn't it?

10:02They're so kind of perfumed. Well, porcini, how to find them, how to clean them, how to cook them, how to eat them. And we'll be back next week with more.

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