With my novel-writing marathon behind me I’m plugging along at the book at a more measured pace and, joy of joys, back to reading. I am a voracious reader, normally devouring something close to 3 books a week. One of those readers who even finishes books that they don’t like. Why? Just to see if I can work out why I don’t like it. I believe that in the last decade there is only one book that I have put down as frankly unreadable. However, the second may be on the floor at the side of the bed at this very moment.
The Alien one passed on a book to me the other day which I have loved. It is Elizabeth Romer’s “The Tuscan Year” (Orion books). It has been a wonderfully evocative and inspiring read. One that I have decided won’t be passed on. Instead, it will travel to Sainte-Foy-La-Grande with us next Easter and live on the bookshelves of the second floor of Les Terraces. In her chapter on September Mrs. Romer writes of foraging for mushrooms and includes some wonderful recipes, plus a very useful nugget of information about ceps (or porcini as they’re known in Italy) that I’m sharing with you now:
“The dark drier specimens are however preferred to the softer bronze-headed variety whose spores become a soft spongy olive green with age. This is because the darker variety are harder and less likely to be attacked by grubs.”
When you’re paying up to €20 a kilofor ceps this is very useful, valuable even, information, trust me. I had to rush to salvage several that went spongy very quickly in September. She also gives a marvelous recipe for grilled porcini, which I share with you here….
Grilled Porcini (per person)
1 large, or 2 smaller, porcini
1 large clove of garlic
1/4 handful of fresh parsley, mint or savory
salt & pepper
2 tbsp olive oil.
Clean the mushroom caps and slice the stems off close to the cap (note from me: dry these to use in hearty meaty winter stews, yummy). Cut the cloves of garlic into slivers and pierce the caps with the slivers of garlic, pushing them into the flesh. Chop the fresh herb and mix with the salt and pepper (fresh ground black is preferable). Turn the porcini so that they are gill side up and press the herb mixture into them. Finally, drizzle the olive oil over both surfaces of each cap and leave to marinate for 10-15 minutes before grilling them – ideally over a wood fire, basting with more oil as they cook.
Serve with excellent bread to mop up the juices.
Roll on September 2012. I can’t wait to try them like this. In fact, I may have to try this out with the Portabellas that we get here in the meantime.
On another (totally unrelated) matter, there has been an abandoned television bobbing in our corner of the harbour for the past 3 weeks. I hadn’t thought that they were so air-tight that one could float for so long. And before anyone makes any comments, no, it wasn’t wearing the life jacket that is alongside it!
Also, I discovered someone new working in our office yesterday. He was hiding under a load of paper. Fortunately, we don’t have to pay him much:
