Rural Life

Shaggy Ink-caps

Autumn is a favourite time of year for me for "free" food.  We have done well so far this year with chestnuts (see previous posts), walnuts and hazelnuts, but the mushrooms have been slow.

Last year was a bumper year for wild mushrooms, particularly cepes and bolets of many varieties.  This year we have yet to see any in our wood - we hope it is because the conditions aren't right yet, but thieves cleared the wood 5 times to our knowledge last year, so it could also be a problem with the mycelium.  Cepe development is apparently a mystery even to the experts, so we wait and see.

Today John did find a few Shaggy Ink-caps however, which he brought home for our lunch.  Once picked, these lovely mushrooms have a shelf life of no more than about three quarters of an hour - fortunately he found them quite close to home!  Gently fried in a bit of butter, they made a lovely lunch, and have fired our enthusiasm for seeking out more.

That crumble recipe

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would reveal the secret of my savoury chestnut crumble - here it is!

Take 2 ounces or 50 grammes each of lightly cooked chestnuts, flour, freshly grated Parmesan and salted butter (yes, frightfully unhealthy, but saves adding salt).  Either rub them together if you are a hands on sort of person, or whizz in a food processor with the sharp attachment if you aren't, and there you have it.  Add more salt, pepper or herbs to taste.

It takes about 20 minutes minimum to cook with whatever filling you are using at gas mark 5.  Enjoy!

How to peel sweet chestnuts

This is an excellent year for sweet chestnuts - there are lots around and they are big and plump and luscious.  Even trees that don't normally produce any are dropping a few of these fabulous nuts.  There are so many in our wood that we could only eat them roasted if we set the brazier up every night from now until Christmas, and of course by then, some will have sprouted, some will have gone off, some will have been eaten by mice, so what to do with the surplus?

There are lovely recipes for stuffings and soups, but they all start with "first peel a pound (or other quantity) of chestnuts".  Then they tell you how to do that more easily - slit the top of the nut and boil variously for 5 to 10 minutes, then pop them out of their shells and inner casings.  THIS DOES NOT WORK.

The way to do it is to take off the hard outer shell while the nut is in its raw state, but leave the tannic inner membrane on.  When you have enough, pop them in a saucepan and cover with water and boil for 5 minutes.  At this point the membrane does come off quite easily and you can even get nice whole nuts to do marron glace with.  Chestnut soup is very nice but very very rich!!