You don’t come back empty-handed from a walk in the countryside.
Now it’s time for Corbezzole,the berries from teh strawberry tree (arbutus), with which to make jams. It is time for chestnuts, but also for a bunch of cyclamen, only to be kept in a vase because they are not edible.
In a few days we will start collecting hollies, pine twigs, red berries, mistletoe for Christmas decorations. And then the rosehip berries, immediately after the first frost, to make jams with these too.
But now, above all, it’s time for the king of the forest: the mushroom.
And, if you don’t find the mushrooms, you can move and pick wild herbs. Chicories have already sprung up and are still tender and not very bitter.
One recommendation: no plastic bags. Not only because, by now they have told us to the point of exhaustion, they pollute: but because in the plastic the mushrooms “exude” and become soft. We need the wicker basket.
We also need the basket for chicory and various wild herbs. Another recommendation: the field where you collect the herbs must not have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.
These are the links of previous posts dedicated to wild herbs:
http://gigliocooking.blogspot.com/2018/03/questo-verde-questo-azzurro-e-questo.html
http://gigliocooking.blogspot.com/2018/05/l-insalata-non-e-bella-se-non-c-e-la.html
http://gigliocooking.blogspot.com/2014/08/need-omega-3.html
Pellegrino is very good: he collects… everything. Always comes home with full baskets. This time he took a “long” ride: woods and then a clean and uncultivated field.
Here is his loot:
dav dav
What can I say: tonight a long job of cleaning the herbs and mushrooms .. but, you know: it’s a real effort, but chicory is the side dish I love the most and a nice tagliatella with fresh porcino will refresh Pellegrino after an afternoon of hiking.
For beginners: once the herbs have been washed well (two or three times, depending on how dirty they are), a large pot of water is brought to a boil, salt is added, the herbs are dipped in; we turn them every now and then. About ten minutes and drain. Then a pan: good oil, garlic and chilli, heat a little and toss the drained herbs. And if you have a bruschetta to put them on…. You will never stop eating them.
For the mushroom sauce: cut some into slices and another into small pieces, so that they are distributed over the pasta. Garlic, oil, parsley and salt. I don’t add anything else. Quick and painless.