Funghi...Mushrooms

Last night I had one of those heavenly food experiences... and I just couldn't wait to write about it until next week. We went to our friend's family restaurant in Settimo Vittone, a little town at the edge of the Piedmont region, almost in the Valle d'Aosta region of Italy where the Alps are in full force. Every time we go to this restaurant we leave totally satisfied and extremely full. Check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Settimo-Vittone-Italy/Osteria-La-Sosta/112546454587?ref=ts. They specialize in Piedmont cuisine, but last night they prepared us a special dinner of funghi (mushrooms)!

Check out what we ate:

The Piedmont tradition involves many appetizers. Our first one of the night was a plate of affettati, or sliced cold meat. We were served  some real delicacies: fresh, sweet prosciutto, savory lard (the word lard sounds nasty but believe me, cut right and of good quality, it tastes amazing), and salami made of potatoes and cow's blood.

The next appetizer started the funghi theme of the evening: raw mushrooms marinated in oil and vinegar.

Next, we ate one of my favorite dishes that I have discovered since moving to Torino: Albese meat... coated with buttery, sauteed mushrooms. Albese meat refers to thinly cut beef served raw. It has to be of good quality and to retain its particular rosey-red color, must be served immediately. This tradition comes from the Piedmont town of Alba, a small city in the Langhe region of northern Italy. The Langhe area is one of the major wine-producing regions of Italy, and wines coming from Alba are internationally known. If you search "carne albese" in Google, you'll see that there's even a Facebook page dedicated to it!

When everyone dug their forks into the next dish, I noticed that there was that silence that sub-consciously comes on when eating something that totally wows you and you momentarily forget where you are and who you're with because all your mind can focus on is how good the flavors are that are sliding over your tongue.  It was described to us as a flan ai funghi. The crust was soft, but slightly crispy. The egg inside didn't have an egg-y taste, but rather a creamy, buttery taste. The mushrooms folded and baked into the mixture retained their freshly-picked-from-the-forest taste. And the sauce on the plate made of Fontina cheese, served at the perfect temperature, made us lick our lips.

I was already pretty full at this point, but who could refuse what you see in the next picture?!? Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini.... the pasta was freshly made that afternoon, the mushrooms were big and plentiful. I feel lucky to have this yummy plate digesting right now in my stomach.  Ahhh...

My dessert didn't have mushrooms in it, but I'm including the photo to complete my meal, and because it pertains to my last post on chestnuts. To finish up last night, I ordered bavese alle castagne con panna - bavase I can't find a translation for, but it was basically like a sweet souffle, and castagne con panna means chestnuts with cream. 

The end of the last week, we also went out to eat mushrooms. I have to say that although this first restaurant was more pricey, and we enjoyed our meals, it can't compare with La Sosta. Here's some of the dishes we ate there:

funghi e carciofi fritti (fried mushrooms and artichoke hearts)

gnocchi al pomodoro e funghi (gnocchi in red sauce with mushrooms)

more tagliatelle ai funghi (can you see the difference?)

On the way home from the restaurant last night, our friend and adopted grandfather born and raised in Piedmont claimed he could recognized at least 100 species of mushrooms. Then he brought the number down to 60. He managed to list off six different types and their various characteristics: color, taste, level of poison.

In Italy, there are over 900 species of mushrooms![i] And there are a bunch of laws, permits and rules on how and when mushrooms can be harvested. They sprout in the humid and chilly fall months. Just be careful about mushroom hunting on your own because many are toxic and you should be accompanied by an expert to be able to tell apart the toxic ones from nearly identical-looking yummy ones.

Apparently, according to our trusted Piedmont friend, most mushrooms have low level of poisonous substances inside, and too many mushrooms can really wreak havoc on your system. You know you're eating among Italians when everyone is talking about how what you're eating affects a certain organ or function of your body. Last night, everyone made comments on how all these mushrooms were going to be giving at little hit to their livers. My (very brief) research shows that mushrooms can be very good for you. Studies have shown that they can prevent certain cancers, are good for the immune system, and were part of the first antibiotics.[ii]

In the States, and also in Italy, you can find dried mushrooms yearlong. Just make sure they didn’t package them with any special chemicals!

For this post, I would like to suggest a recipe I cooked up two years ago to win over my current boyfriend (because as they say not only in Italian but in many languages, “the way to a man’s heart is through is stomach”).

Polenta al forno con porcini e gorgonzola 

Ingredients:

polenta

Parmesan cheese

butter

shallots

porcini mushrooms (fresh or dried)

cream for cooking or whole milk

white table wine

gorgonzola cheese

salt and pepper 

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.

1. Boil about three times as much water as the amount of polenta you want to cook (the amounts for the cheese sauce that follows is enough to cover small amount of polenta for about 4 people).

2. When the water starts boiling, slowly pour in the polenta, constantly stiring and making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. My good friend suggested that I add in a bit of grated Parmesan cheese at this point to give the polenta a little extra kick of flavor. I tried it with another recipe and it was great! Turn the heat down and keep stiring until the polenta becomes denser and pulls away from the pot.

3. Pour into an oven-proof pan and spread out evenly. Put in the oven the bake around 15 minutes. This will give it a more tender texture and make it possible to cut into little bars. (You can see in the picture that I didn't do this to mine the first time.)

4. If you have dried mushrooms, let them soak in warm water until mushroom-like again, probably around 20-30 minutes. Cut mushrooms into slices, I prefer them length-wise.

5. Melt 1.5 tablespoons of butter in a large pan.

6. Add the mushrooms and chopped up shallot, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms are softened and golden, around 7 minutes.

7. Add some wine, around 1/2 cup, and simmer until reduced by half.

8. Add the cream (or whole milk) and Gorgonzola cheese and cook over low heat around 7 minutes again. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

9. Pour on top of the baked polenta and serve!

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[i] http://www.funghiitaliani.it/angizio/LibroGiunti_02/Preview.pdf

[ii] http://www.health.pon.net/nmh.html