These are some wood blewits (Lepista nuda) I picked today on my way back home. They look beautiful, and they have a very pleasant fragrance (when you slice them, they smell like frozen orange juice!).
It is VERY important that you cook these mushrooms. They can cause indigestion if eaten raw, but if you cook them they turn into mMMmm-ly delicious mushrooms.
I had them sautéed in butter with onions, tomatoes and some cheese, and some salad to accompany them. Of course, that's a terrible thing to do if you hate salad.
ingredients
some wood blewits
½ onion
1 tomato
1 tbsp butter (maybe a bit more)
1 tbsp honey (yes, honey)
1 tsp dried yarrow leaves (or dill, if not available) (or thyme...)
salt and pepper to taste
(oh, and cheese) (yeah, lots of cheese) (well, not really..) (just some)
some wood blewits
½ onion
1 tomato
1 tbsp butter (maybe a bit more)
1 tbsp honey (yes, honey)
1 tsp dried yarrow leaves (or dill, if not available) (or thyme...)
salt and pepper to taste
(oh, and cheese) (yeah, lots of cheese) (well, not really..) (just some)
1. Slice the mushrooms neatly (no maggots please!) and chop the onion and tomato.
2. Put the butter in the frying pan (hot fire) and when it melts put the mushrooms in the pan. Toss around often for the next 3-4 minutes (make sure they're well cooked - but don't overcook them because they will start losing their taste) (once they look a bit brown/darker, and they have shrunk quite a bit, they should be ready)
3. Sprinkle the yarrow over the mushrooms (in the pan) just a few seconds before you take them out. Put on a plate, and start frying the onion and tomato (you might need a bit more butter). You can toss the mushrooms in the pan again before you eat, if they're a bit cold.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste (to the stuff in the pan), as well as any other herbs you want (thyme, yarrow etc). A bit before you take them out, pour the honey on them and mix quickly (the honey will become very fluid very quickly).
5. Put them on the plate, and quickly put a couple of very thin slices of cheese on them, so it melts and looks NICE. And voilà!
You can also use sautéed mushrooms in omelettes, or with roast potatoes. Robert Mabey, in his "Food for Free" (2004) suggests that wood blewits in particular make really good stewing mushrooms, but I haven't tried it myself. But I have heard that if you use them in a sauce, for example, you have to make sure the other stuff are not too strong in taste, otherwise you will lose the taste of the mushrooms. And that's not very good with nice little wood blewits which you've picked yourself, is it?
