Porcini, chestnuts and more mushrooms recipes

An absolutely delicious recipe with porcini and chestnuts, and few ideas how to prepare mushrooms in unusual ways.

Hiking or any walk in untouched nature is an activity that slows the hectic pace of your life, it resets your body and mind, it gives you new energy, force and meaning… I could mention more of this self-help-new-age stuff and you can believe me or not, because maybe your Zen is laying down on couch and watching your favorite TV show until you fell asleep. But, if you read this blog you like to eat good and one thing you can not deny – in autumn it is worth to take a walk in the nature because you can find a lot of delicious mushrooms.

Porcini mushrooms in chestnut cream

Slit the shell of chestnuts with knife, cooked them in water for 40 min and then clean the shell and the skin beneath. It is easier to say it than do it. A much easier way is to cook the chestnuts in a microwave with Crisp option (it is how Whirlpool calls it), which means you get an oven plate made of special material that heats up and heats the food from beneath. Put the chestnuts in that plate, cover with plastic wrapping foil and cook for 18 min on maximal power (850 W). Leave them covered another 5 min. You will see that the skin will come off very easily.

While you cook the chestnuts, prepare a light vegetable stock with carrots, onions and a bit of celery root.

Cook cleaned chestnuts in the vegetable stock for another 10 min with a rosemary branch. Dice half of the porcini, add them to the chestnuts and cook everything for 5 min.

Use immersion blender to turn chestnuts and porcini into a cream. The cream will be very dense so you have to dilute it with the stock, add salt to your taste and cook for another 5 min. Add more stock if needed.

Slice rest of the porcini on 5 mm thick slices. Serve the sliced on plate and pour over the cream that has to remain dense because we don’t want to get a soup. At the end pour over a spoon of some excellent extravirgin olive oil, preferably spicy and bitter (for example from Bjelica/Bianchera olive variety) to contrast the sweetness of porcini and chestnuts. Ground some pepper on top and garnish each plate with a branch of fresh rosemary.

Porcini carpaccio

Very simple. Cut porcini in 5 mm thick slices, arrange them on the plate, pour over some good extravirgin olive oil and grate over some Parmiggiano Reggiano. Pepper to your taste.