Fresh porcini mushrooms

[Jinmyo]

I was just handed a basket of fresh porcini mushrooms.<p>I'm about to saute in a nice extra virgin olive oil, fleur de sel, cracked black pepper. Then a few softly scrambled eggs. I have some sourdough rolls made this afternoon so I'll have one of those. I'll either put some Norman cultured butter on it or some more olive oil. Wine? Just some cheap Italian plonk. Oh well.<p>What would you do? Hm?

[Fat Guy]

I would sear them in a cast-iron skillet at a very high temperature very quickly, so I'd not use olive oil but rather something like grapeseed oil. Then I'd drizzle the best available extra-virgin olive oil on the finished product along with a little fleur de sel. I'd use regular coarse salt for the cooking phase, along with white pepper. Also a fresh herb in there would be nice.

[Peter B Wolf]

The Herb to use is Marjoram or Summer Savory (fresh), both will beat any other.

[Fat Guy]

I was thinking marjoram too!

I think I'd do marjoram and thyme together.

And maybe just a touch of heavy cream . . . :)

[Jinmyo]

That was good. I used some fresh tarragon.

Thanks for your suggestions. But I meant, "given some fresh porcini right now, what would you do with it?" Would everyone make scrambled eggs?

I did because it's been so long and eggs are the perfect canvas for mushrooms. And I just love eggs.

But what would you do?

A risotto? Sear a steak?

Hm?

[Sandra Levine]

Sauteed in butter and finished with a little cream and some sage leaves, they are delicious smothering a veal chop.

[Jinmyo]

Fat Guy, porcini in a heavy cream sauce with scrambled eggs?

Poured over top? Plated with the eggs atop? Or just eaten from the skillet?

(I used cast iron by the way.)

[Fat Guy]

Not a heavy cream sauce. Just a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream mixed in with the porcinis during the last seconds of cooking. Makes them that much more luscious. No need to change anything about the way you use them.

Eggs are a great backdrop for many ultra-luxury ingredients (truffles, caviar, super-premium smoked fish, etc.). For porcinis specifically, you can't go wrong with eggs.

However, I'd probably take some puff pastry and some caramelized onions (with a little balsamic) and the sauteed (slightly undercooked) porcinis and make a porcini-and-onion tarte tatin. If I did a risotto, I'd do it French-style, with the mushrooms separate. So I'd just make an herb risotto and I'd spoon the mushrooms (this time in an actual cream sauce) over the risotto when serving. Rather than risotto, though, I'd probably lean towards homemade pasta, again done in the French manner so as to absorb a lot of butter and cream at the final stage of cooking.

[Jinmyo]

Aha. A porcini-and-onion tarte tatin sounds good.

And I do still have 8/10ths of a basket left...

[Al_Dente]

I'm raising this thread up from the depths because I finally have access to some fresh porcinis (the new Wegman's $35/lb) and I have a high pressure dinner to cook Saturday night for some serious foodie acquaintances. I'll be in an unfamiliar kitchen albeit with a ton of great toys to use-- high quality pans and knives, commercial grade stove, the whole 9 yards.

I want porcinis. How bout with some roast chicken? Perhaps in a sauce over veal chops? I'm willing to buy up to a lb of those babies.

Help!

[fredbram]

When an outdoor grill is available, I insert slivers of garlic into the whole mushroom caps, rub with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, and grill them whole. Serve with grilled steak or veal chop or roast chicken.

You could do a variation on the Zuni Cafe roast chicken, the one with the arugula/bread salad underneath, and then top it with porcini that had been sauteed separately as fat guy suggests above.

[slkinsey]

They would be awesome with chicken or veal chops. Just roast 'em up at high temperature per FG above.

[Al_Dente]

When an outdoor grill is available, I insert slivers of garlic into the whole mushroom caps, rub with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, and grill them whole. Serve with grilled steak or veal chop or roast chicken.

You could do a variation on the Zuni Cafe roast chicken, the one with the arugula/bread salad underneath, and then top it with porcini that had been sauteed separately as fat guy suggests above.

Where would one find the recipe for Zuni Cafe roast chicken?

Great idea on the grilled caps, by the way.

[fredbram]

There is a brief description of the chicken roasting technique about 4 or 5 posts down in this Zuni roast chicken thread.

There is also a thread on the Zuni Cafe cookbook, which is a great cookbook by the way and well worth owning. But, I didn't see any detail about the roast chicken recipe in the Zuni thread.

Basically, after roasting the chicken as described you build a salad out of chunks of good levain type bread and arugula or some other green with the chicken pan juices and vinegar and oil and serve the chicken on a bed of this salad. It is outrageously delicious. However, it may not be perfect for doing in someone else's kitchen, because the high roasting temp creates not only a large amount of smoke, but also usually requires an oven cleaning after.

[badthings]

The best thing I have ever done to fresh porcinis personally is to carefully cut the stems lengthwise in thirds (leaving them attached to the cap), stuff in a handful of thyme/marjoram, tie them up, rub with salt/oil, and grill.

[from, I think, the first River Cafe cookbook which appears to be out of print].

The Zuni cookbook, and its chicken recipe is here

[agnolottigirl]

Alternatively, check out Marcella Hazan's (it's in Marcella Cucina, I think) recipe for pork loin "wild boar style." I have made this using shitakes (what she recommends if one isn't fortunate enough to have fresh porcini on hand), and it is fan-freakin-tastic. Truly. You marinate the pork with red wine, onions, celery, thyme, and bay overnight. . . and while you get the pork browned and then cooked through, you simmer the marinade down with the mushrooms in it. Gooooooood. . . and in the unlikely event you have leftovers, you take the whole thing and use it in tomato sauce over pasta the next day.