Mushroom Season
Posted by Circa on May 27th, 2010
While Matt Wilkinson is on holiday, The Journal will be updated by Sommelier Liam O’Brien and Sous Chef Jake Nicolson.
When the rain starts to fall after a long hot summer and the leaves of the trees begin to fall, something very special in nature begins to happen, the arrival of wild mushrooms. For me heading out to a pine forest to go mushroom picking feels like an easter egg hunt for grown ups and there is nothing more satisfying than getting the days bounty back into the kitchen and whipping up a risotto or a pappardelle of freshly picked wild mushrooms.
I must admit there is an art to procuring our little fungal friends not to mention a certain level of knowledge required to choose good from bad. I stick to what I know and choose the pine and slippery jack varieties. Although I recently discovered some shaggy ink caps growing on the nature strip out the front of Etihad stadium. After taking to them with a paring knife I went home and enjoyed a fresh pasta of shaggy ink caps, garlic, thyme and cream. Delicious!
Although nature gives us some good signs of when the mushrooms are going to be about, it’s not always that obvious when it comes to some other varieties such as the ever elusive morels, of which ever keen fungi foragers will always keep one eye out for. Morel mushrooms are not easily found in our country and they are unique in the sense that there is so many elements that need to align for them to come to be. The spawn of the morel lays dormant until spring, so don’t expect to make any discoveries right now but with a little research you’ll start to get a feeling of where they may pop up. I am forever being asked where wild mushrooms can be found, as if it’s a big secret. Like I mentioned earlier its all about the elements, there needs to have been plenty of rain to soak deeply into the warm forest floor after the summer at the base of the pine trees, remembering it takes a lot of rain to penetrate the canopy of the forest and soak into the ground but with enough rain you’ll be skipping through the pines with a cane basket like Jamie Oliver in no time. I do advise strongly that you go along with someone with a little experience as there are a lot of interesting mushrooms out there and unfortunately there are far more varieties that are not fit for consumption so it’s very important to know exactly what your doing before taking to the forests.
It is going to be a great season this year so you should see plenty of wild mushrooms on restaurant menus. My personal favorite is an old classic from The Lakehouse in Daylesford where Alla Wolf-Tasker would serve a warm brioche filled with buttery wild mushrooms with garlic and thyme. The aroma of the mushrooms and the freshly baked brioche always brings back fond memories of my early days as a chef where Alla would take us into the forests to collect the produce and gather chestnuts and quinces from local farms for use in the kitchen that day. It is such a beautiful time of year with so much interesting produce on offer. Happy hunting and if you have no luck check out some of the great local mushroom tours that are around during this time of the year. Enjoy!
