Gremolata

In the previous post I made chimichurri my way, this time it is gremolata, another favorite sauce using fresh herbs and often used in mediteranean cooking. It can be used with either fish or meat and even on a tomato salad, or sandwich with ham or cheese or tomato, pourquoi pas?

Recipe.

  1. A handful of fresh flatleaf parsley
  2. 2 cloves of fresh garlic
  3. lemon
  4. a squirt of lemon juice to your taste
  5. Fleur de sel salt flakes
  6. A little olive oil
  • Chop the parsley finely.
  • Chop the garlic finely, or push through garlic press or grate finely
  • Grate the peel of one large lemon
  • Mix all ingredients together and add a little fleur de sel to taste

A pinch of salt:

  1. Add a little chopped fresh mint leaves to the chopped parsley, not too much, since the main herb is parsley.
  2. The addition of salt flakes brings out the flavour of the garlic.
  3. Cream the chopped garlic with a little fine salt on a wooden board with the flat side of the knife, in which case you don’t add salt flakes later.
  4. Use a microplane to grate the lemon.
  5. Use grated orange peel orange instead of lemon, especially when used with chicken or duck.
  6. Make the gremolata fresh with your meal.

Wild mushrooms with lemon and nutmeg

It is time! For wild mushrooms! One of our favorite meals in autumn. We prefer it pretty simple, with either an omelette or a risotto or, as in this case, a crusty baguette. Bolets and girolles are sautéed in olive oil, a little knob of butter and served with lemon juice, nutmeg and a persillade(mix of shallots, garlic and parsley. It speaks of autumn and forest and cool days. And what else is autumn about after all.

I dont give exact quantities because it depends on the type of mushrooms you have and on your appetite. I used about 200g.

Bolets and girolles wild mushrooms

Recipe:

  • About 200g mix of different wild mushrooms like girolles, chanterelles, trompettes de mort, bolets, cepes and whatever safe edible ones you can find in the woods or on the market.
  • 1 onion or two shallots
  • A bouquet of fresh parsley
  • 1 big clove of garlic
  • juice of half a lemon
  • nutmeg
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
  • knob of butter
  1. Clean the mushrooms with a brush or rinse under running water and dry immediately with a dry towel.
  2. Melt the butter along with olive oil in a pan.
  3. Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are almost tender and caramelized.
  4. Chop the onion or shallots and garlic and add to the mushrooms. Sauté for another few minutes until soft and translucent and the mushrooms caramelized.
  5. Add the chopped parsley, lemon juice and grated nutmeg to taste.
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve warm with crusty baguette and butter.

Serves 2 people

Girolles washed and dried with a dry towel and the bolets cleaned with a soft brush while the stems are scraped with a knife.

Pinch of salt:

  1. Mushrooms shrink a lot when cooked, so get more than you think you need..
  2. Don’t soak mushrooms in water, they absorb water very quickly and get soggy. I prefer to use asoft brush.
  3. Make sure you pick edible safe mushrooms when you go pick in the woods, or take to your pharmacist for identification.
  4. Serve sautéed wild mushrooms with an omelette or a risotto or top off a mushroom soup with a mix of wild mushrooms.
  5. A venison pie is delicious with wild mushrooms.