Ceps

[Hedgehogpie]

Found som Ceps today.

Am an exceedingly happy bunny!

[MKG]

... and an exceedingly lucky bugger ...

[AXJ]

Far out! You have luck, I love wild fungus. The seaon here is well over, but come the autumn the area goes 'Hongo' (as they call them here) mad. The forest bustling with people of all ages with baskets knives and sticks creeping to their 'secret' places. There's a whole culture, e.g. you bump into someone else, you never look into their basquet. If someone else sees you foraging, you stand up and urinate &c Good spots are handed down through the family as a sacred secret. Untill I came here I had no idea how many kinds of wild muchroom there are that are good to eat.

How are you going to cook them?

[Hedgehogpie]

Hmmm.... No too sure yet. I think I'll definitely dry part of the crop for later, but I'll have to scour my books for inspiration. Maybe something really simple, just to compliment them.

We also found a beautiful, pristine Blusher, which I photographed but left well alone. I'm not that brave around Aminitas.

All in all it was a superb Solstice.

[AXJ]

Blimey you have enough to call a crop!! You super lucky devil, post a picture so we can all drool with envy

Here's the traditional one from here for Ceps, Hongos, Belotas what ever you like to call them...

Could not be more simple, trim your mushrooms (i.e get rid of any rotten bits). slice them reasonably thickly across ways.

Get some cloves of garlic, slice length ways so you have match stich type slices.

Heat some (plenty of) extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil* on a low heat in frying pan with garlic aiming to get the garlic light golden colour, at that moment add half an egg cup of dry whte wine, stir in and bring tback to heat. Then add the fungus, cook till tender. Add a little wine wine as you go if needed to make sure nothing burns. Serve with plenty of fresh bread.

* (I prefer olive oil, walnut is even better for you),

[Hedgehogpie]

Just two! But one was the size of a small cottage loaf, and the other the diameter of a saucer and about an inch and a half thick. I've just cleaned and prepped them and although nibbled, they were both reasonably maggot free considering their size.

About two thirds of it is now sitting in my dehydrator & I'll give your recipe a try out later on - thanks for that!

[AXJ]

You realy did hit the jack pot there, great to eat some of them fresh, it is so hard (expensive) to buy them like that!! The posh shops here will pay 60 or more euros a kilo for fresh picked (casserio) Ceps in season. The retail is twice that. Not been to the UK shopping for a long time, serious question, can you buy them fresh there?

I am so envious, by the way I forgot to mention salt in the preperation suggestion, add to taste, best if you want salt to put in a little at the same time as the fungus.

bueno appetito

[Hedgehogpie]

Borough Market up in London almost certainly supplies them in season (there are a couple of stalls there that sell a variety of wild and cultivated fungi). I don't tend to go up to Town very often though so I can't tell you how much they retail for, but when I do, the 'Borough' is the place I'd go to find real food. Our local farmers markets don't seem to have anything like fungi on offer - I think people are still quite conservative out this way & are a tad suspicious or wouldn't know quite what to do with them. Shame really.

I will post a pic of them later but I'll have to get the other half to download them as they were taken on his camera.

I'll bear the salt thing in mind - a wee sprinkle to taste & easy as you go eh?

[oldfella]

Ceps in my part of the world are treated like gold, and we have market that auctions them to the big hotels, however (and this is the good part) all the local lads know exactly where to find the best one's and they end up on our tables and preserved so we have Ceps all the year round, so aint we lucky

[mrsflibble]

they go really well with chicken.

[Jonzjob]

They freeze well too!! One of our French neighbours gave us some a few months back, lovely stuff!!

[oldfella]

They freeze well too!! One of our French neighbours gave us some a few months back, lovely stuff!!

Where are You Jonzjob? we maybe close enough for me to help you eat your Ceps.

[AXJ]

Just two! But one was the size of a small cottage loaf, and the other the diameter of a saucer and about an inch and a half thick. I've just cleaned and prepped them and although nibbled, they were both reasonably maggot free considering their size.

About two thirds of it is now sitting in my dehydrator & I'll give your recipe a try out later on - thanks for that!

Sorry to trouble you, what dehydrator are you using Hedgehog?