Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley

There are some recipes so timeless that they’re known across borders and cultures with the only change being their name.

In France, this would be called mushrooms with persillade. In Italian it’s known as mushrooms “la loro morte” roughly “cooked to their death”, a romantically macabre way of describing something. In Spain mushrooms are cooked similarly, but most of the time I see Saffron milkcaps or “rovellons” being used all by themselves.

Whatever you call it, this is one of the most tried and true ways to prepare mushrooms. And there is no better time to enjoy it than in the heat (often literally) of summer-fall mushroom season here in the Midwest.

As simple as the recipe is, there is a couple things to know so you can enjoy it to the fullest. First, you want a variety of mushrooms, of course you can use just one species, but having a bunch of different types let’s you enjoy different textures, colors and flavors.

One day this summer I grabbed a few purple Laccaria, some lobsters, white and yellow chicken of the woods, porcini and various boletes, chanterelles, hedgehogs, and a beautiful Ramaria botrytis-they’re pictured here. Variety is key-the more species, the more interesting you’re finished product will be.

Another thing to keep in mind about the ingredients is the quality of your garlic and parsley. Absolutely do not ever think of using tinned, pre-chopped garlic for this (or anything for that matter in my opinion). Pre-chopped garlic has a terrible taste that borders on quasi-fermented to me, and since it includes liquid, it won’t caramelize and gently brown like raw, fresh chopped garlic.

The same goes for the parsley. I would only use fresh, Italian flat-leaf parsley here, since it actually tastes like something. Dried parsley is a no-no, and is only fit for garnishing plates from 1980-you might as well season something with sawdust. Curly parsley too, is pretty void of flavor, and since the price of flat leaf and curly parsley is roughly the same, choosing one over the other is a no-brainer.

One last thing to mention is the type of fat. You can experiment with sorts of things here, and they’ll each give you different results. Flavorless, high heat oil, like grapeseed or non-gmo canola are good, but animal lards will give you a deeper flavor, since they aren’t flavorless. Duck, and poultry fat are especially good.

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Wild Mushrooms With Garlic And Parsley

Serves 2-4

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Mushroom persillade, Wild mushroom saute

Ingredients

• 8 ounces mixed fresh wild mushrooms
• Kosher salt to taste
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons high heat cooking oil or lard
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions

• Clean the mushrooms meticulously.
• In a large saute pan or cast iron skillet or two pans if you only have 10 inch saute pans, heat the oil until hot and shimmering.
• Add the mushrooms and cook until caramelized on medium-high heat Season to taste with salt and pepper, then add the butter, garlic and parsley and cook for 1 minute more, stirring to distribute the seasonings.
• Double check the seasoning for salt and adjust if needed, then remove the mushrooms from the pan with a slotted spoon to remove any excess fat, or allow them to dry on paper towels for a second, or just serve it on paper towels.

Notes

Cleaning different species of mushrooms will take the most time with this dish. We clean hundreds of pounds a year at the Salt Cellar by dipping them in water if needed to loosen grit, and trimming with a paring knife, or rubbing with a cloth depending on species. Afterwords we dry them overnight wrapped or covered in thick towels in the fridge.