Mushrooms

The two following recipes are a good example of how different regions stamp their cultural identity on ‘the mushroom’ by using ingredients local to them. At Moro we use wild mushrooms only in season (from August/September until the first frost). If you have trouble sourcing wild mushrooms, a good substitute is gently fried flat field mushrooms with a small proportion of dried wild mushrooms (roughly six parts field to one part wild). The dried mushrooms we recommend for flavour are porcini (boletus/cep) and morel. Simply cover with boiling water and let them stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile clean the field mushrooms and slice roughly. Heat about 4–5 tablespoons olive oil and fry 2 chopped garlic cloves until they begin to colour. Immediately add the field mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper and fry gently for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in the chopped, soaked dried mushrooms and their juice and fry for a further 5 minutes until the liquid has more or less evaporated. Season.