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Sunday, June 12, 2016

St. George's mushrooms and asparagus

We had a short but wonderful season of St. George's mushrooms in our garden. This was the first time I'd found and eaten St. George's mushrooms, but I checked them out thoroughly and was really sure. Key features are: that they grow in the lawn, in rings, they are white with white gills and a white spore print, they do not colour red or any other colour on bruising, they are firm and 5-15 cm across, and most importantly, they are pretty much the only mushrooms around in the Spring. They are named because in the UK they usually come up around St. George's Day. In German they are called Maipilz, because they usually come up a little later in May / Mai.

Here in Denmark, they first appeared early May. Despite being sure what they were pretty much from the beginning, we did a spore print, then I ate just one as an experiment. It's usually a good idea to eat just a little the first time, even though neither Seb nor I have yet had any bad reactions. That went well (and was delicious), so we decided to eat more!

I bought another mushroom book since moving back to Europe - I am building up quite a good collection. This one is definitely one of my favourites already: the River Cottage mushroom book. Like my other favourite mushroom books, this one is written by a strong and funny character who really knows his stuff. Also, it contains recipes. Something I realized soon after starting to hunt wild mushrooms is that every one has a different taste and texture, so different cooking methods suit different mushrooms. Therefore, it's great to have recipes that specify a particular type of mushroom. The book suggests a really simple Spring combination: St. George's mushrooms and asparagus. So that's what we did... twice!

St. George's mushrooms have gone straight to the top of my mushroom list. For several reasons... 1) they have a nice, mushroomy taste; 2) they have a great, firm texture - one of the best; 3) they do not shrink that much on cooking (because they are quite firm); 4) they are a good size and grow in rings, so if you find one you'll find several meals' worth; and 5) they come up in Spring, when there is a dearth of other kinds of mushrooms around, both edible and inedible - this makes identification easier, and means you get a dose of lovely tasty mushrooms to tide you over until Autumn.
We had St. George's mushrooms from our lawn, and some of the best asparagus I've ever eaten from our food share KBHFF. The second time, we shared with my sister, and she took the picture.

about 200g St George’'s mushrooms
salt and pepper
12 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
50 g butter

Clean, trim and halve the mushrooms (or quarter them if they're large).

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add salt, then add the asparagus and cook for 3–4 min until just tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the mushrooms and sauté gently until they are tender and the liquid they release has evaporated. St George's mushrooms need a fair bit of cooking and don't contain that much water, so keep the heat low to avoid drying them out before they're cooked through.

Add the steamed asparagus spears to the mushroom pan, along with the butter. Season with salt and pepper, toss around once or twice, and serve at once, with bread.
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