Love the 'Shrooms

At our trip to Russo's Market this weekend we splurged and got three types of mushrooms: portobello, porcini, and chanterelle. Though here in Boston we don't have the luxury of going "mushroom-seeking" in the forest as we do back in Tuscany, in my mind Russo's is the next best thing. Over the years I've grown to love good mushrooms (unlike my childhood response: "ick!"), but it was on our trip to Italy this summer that I came to appreciate them on a whole new level. A good, raw mushroom salad, when using the freshest best-quality mushrooms drizzled in olive oil and tossed with shaved parmesan and fresh herbs, can be a wondrously rich and flavorful dish, no cooking required. I had the privilege of tasting some of the rarest mushrooms there, X, which practically melted on the tongue, they were so delicate yet rich in flavor. As I've learned more about mushrooms in my culinary exploration I've come to discover a myriad of kinds, from fun little shiitakes to creamy creminis to traditional buttons to lobster mushrooms - we discovered these at Russo's and they actually smell like lobster! Add that to a seafood pasta dish and let the flavors fly! Experiment and try cooking with oyster mushrooms, morefan-shaped oyster mushrooms, earthy morels, or go bold with black trumpets!

Of the mushrooms we selected this time, they each have different characteristics to contribute to a dish. The portobello mushrooms are the "meatiest," with both their larger shape and thicker texture and beefier flavor that bring a hearty taste to a meal. I often substitute portobello mushrooms for meat in my vegetarian cooking, such as in grilled burgers, and have even seen a vegetarian shephard's pie that uses portobellos instead of ground beef!

Porcini mushrooms, though smaller than portobello caps, have a rich, almost musty flavor. These were our real "splurge" of the day as they were the most expensive, but even two of these bulbous babies go a long way. We also selected a bunch of fresh chanterelles, which look like little gold trumpets. They are soft and delicate in flavor, for some even evoking the smell of apricots. Here is a photo of our fresh chanterelles before we sliced them:

We decided to make a three-mushroom risotto, using each kind to build a depth of flavor. After soaking the mushrooms in water to remove the grit and sauteeing them with garlic, sweet onions and olive oil, we started the risotto base (keep adding stock to arborio rice and stir to keep from sticking) and added the mushrooms halfway through the cooking process to infuse the risotto with their flavor. The combination of the meaty portobello, rich porcini, and delicate chanterelles melded to create a pot of mouth-watering goodness:

The meal was hearty enough to satisfy even an avid meat-eater, laden with earthy flavors from the mushrooms and finished with fresh thyme and fontina cheese stirred in to give it a creamy texture. We paired the dinner with a nice Malbec, as the portobellos can stand up to red wine, and topped the risotto with some shaved pecorino for natural salt - note this meal uses very little butter or salt in our case, so the richness comes from the mushrooms themselves.

Next I used a few of the little porcinis and chanterelles for a seafood dinner, sauteeing them with a red pepper coulis to top seared sea scallops served over mixed greens:


These 'shrooms sent us into a nice psychadelic trip ... of food ecstasy.