SAVOUR & S I P
Shroom Raider ELISHA YOUNG (AKA @ELISHA.EATS ON INSTAGRAM) TELLS US WHY MUSHROOMS ARE AN AUTUMNAL HIGHLIGHT WELL WORTH EXPLORING ELISHA EATS
ctober marks the beginning of the slow transition into winter, with the weather getting colder and
they don’t like mushrooms – from small, matchstick enoki, to meaty shiitake and the delicate, fan-like gills of oyster mushrooms, no two varieties taste the same. For the staunch mushroom-phobe, pizza offers a fairly inoffensive base. One of my personal favourites is the mushroom flammekueche from Amélie, served with field and button mushrooms, sliced onions, mozzarella and a mouth-wateringly good pesto. I’ve also had my eye on a similar offering from Oscar’s Lockdown Pizza (@oscarslockdownpizza), dubbed the ‘Ooo Mami’. (Ooo mami,
gloomier, the leaves turning brown and the nights drawing in. The bounty of stone fruit and summer squash has tailed off – and everyone is ready to settle down with something warm, rich and stodgy. But the weeks ahead have their share of delights, too. People tend to forget that mushrooms are seasonal, just like fruits and vegetables, and October is one of the best months for enjoying British
varieties. I’m wary of recommending foraging for your own fungi – it’s quite easy to accidentally poison yourself ! If you still want to give
umami, get it?) A base of 24-hour fermented dough is topped with roasted mushrooms, pesto and chilli flakes, with a tarragon and garlic mayo dip. There’s even a homemade cashew cheese option for vegans. Mushroom lover?
MUSHROOMS COME IN A HUGE ARRAY OFFLAVOURS
it a go, make sure to only pick and consume mushrooms you are completely confident about – visit woodlandtrust.org for some excellent articles, with helpful pictures and pointers. For the more risk-averse, shops such as Culinaris, Shelford Deli and Harvest offer a wonderful selection – helpfully identified and clearly labelled to help minimise the risk of sudden death. Sadly, people often assume mushrooms are just a sub-par substitute for meat, when they actually come in a huge array of sizes, textures and flavours, and are a delicacy in their own right. I find it difficult to accept when people claim
I recently ate at Vanderlyle and fell in love with a dish that paired girolles and chicken of the woods with a smooth and creamy sweetcorn custard. It was completely delicious and deeply savoury, with the flavour of the mushrooms front and centre. The menu is seasonal and changes frequently, but it’s worth getting your foot in the door if you enjoy stunningly fresh local produce. As for cooking at home, risotto is a sure-fire dish to complement the earthiness of mushrooms. But if the idea of standing over a saucepan for hours, slowly stirring rice granules and adding ladles of stock in slow increments sounds like your idea of torture, I have another suggestion. Toast a thick slice of white bread – preferably sourdough – and slather it in salted butter. Cut up a selection of your favourite mushrooms while melting more butter in a saucepan, and when the saucepan is hot and the butter is starting to bubble, take a crushed garlic clove (or three) and fry until fragrant, then add in your mushrooms. For extra creaminess and a luscious texture, stir through some crème fraiche, double cream or ricotta, then season generously with sea salt, freshly
cracked black pepper, and garnish with (you can mix and match here) fresh parsley, extra virgin olive oil, a crispy fried egg or melty cheese. There you have it: the perfect marriage of quick and easy, yet delicious, filling and intensely comforting. VARIETY Brown chestnut mushrooms from Al:Amin store on Mill Road (top), on sourdough toast and ricotta – I added double cream and my home-grown parsley; white oyster mushrooms (above) have a unique flavour
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK OCTOBER 2021 57
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