It turns out there’s a lot to say about mushrooms. The Gourmand’s Mushroom, a ravishing new Taschen book by David Lane and Marina Tweed, the founders of London food and culture journal The Gourmand, celebrates the multitudes and legacy of mushrooms. It’s the pair’s third collaboration with Taschen, a follow-up to past volumes on eggs and lemons.
Beginning with a foreword by Quo Vadis’s Jeremy Lee and an introduction by writer Jennifer Higgie, which explores the mushroom’s role in art and culture over the centuries, the tome incorporates essays and imagery spanning everything from the science behind mushrooms to the history of mycological illustration, Beatrix Potter’s fascination with fungi, fashion’s longstanding love affair with them and how mushrooms have been depicted in movies.
It also features more than 60 mushroom-y recipes, including mushroom larb, Hungarian mushroom pie and mushroom fried rice, as well as this porcini gratin.
“Gratiner is a French culinary technique in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, using grated cheese, breadcrumbs, butter, eggs or cream. Hence, gratin,” write Lane and Tweed. “A gratin is usually prepared in a shallow heatproof dish and baked in a hot oven or cooked under a hot grill and served in the same dish. This recipe is so simple, and allows the taste and texture of the mushrooms to shine through the rich cream and cheese crust. It will work with any firm, fresh mushroom, but porcini are ideal.”
The Gourmand’s porcini gratin
Serves 4 as a side or starter
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
600g fresh porcini mushrooms
45g unsalted butter (plus extra if needed for frying)
Salt and white pepper
100ml double cream
50g aged gruyere or parmesan, finely grated
½ small garlic clove, grated
Nutmeg, freshly grated, to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 250°C/230°C fan/gas mark 9 – or as high as the oven will go.
Using a very sharp knife, cut the mushrooms lengthways into 5mm slices so that the stem and cap remain together.
Place a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, and when hot, add the butter. When the butter stops foaming, add enough mushroom slices to cover the base (work in batches), and fry until golden on one side, then turn them over and fry the second side.
Turn the heat down to medium low, and fry until all the moisture from the mushrooms disappears and the mushroom flesh still holds its shape. Lift the slices out with a spatula and lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool while you cook the rest (don’t overlap them).
Once all the mushroom slices are cooked, season them with salt and pepper, and arrange them in layers in a shallow ovenproof gratin dish – the layers should not be too thick, no more than 1cm.
Mix the double cream, grated cheese, garlic and grated nutmeg (to taste) in a small bowl. Pour the cream mixture over the mushrooms as evenly as possible, set the dish on a baking sheet, and place in the oven and bake for about 8–12 minutes (depending on the oven) until deep golden brown on top. Watch closely, as the hotter the oven, the quicker the gratin will brown. Remove from the oven and leave to settle for 3–4 minutes before serving.
The Gourmand's Mushroom. A Collection of Stories & Recipes is out now, published by Taschen; RRP £40.
