Pappardelle ai funghi porcini
Foraging mushrooms + sugar-coated fried doughnuts + simpler times
This weekend, Stefano made pappardelle ai funghi porcini - pappardelle with porcini mushrooms.
As we enjoyed our plate of pasta and the nutty, earthy flavor of the mushrooms, Stefano told stories about going mushroom hunting as a child and the thrill of finding a big, meaty porcino. I listed with curiosity and a bit of melancholy. Experiences like those Stefano had growing up are increasingly rare for children today.
Our conversation went something like this:
C: “Where did you go when you went foraging mushrooms?”
S: “In the woods, up near Abruzzo. Pietro knew where to go. He always came with us.
C: “Who was Pietro?”
S: “Giulia’s husband.”
C: “Who was Giulia, again?”
S: “Zia Elena’s sister”
C: “Oh yeah. So, you went with your cousins?”
S: “Yes, we all went. Mio padre, Zio Carlo, Roberto, Gianluca, and us.”
C: “Did Debora come, too?” Deborah is Stefano’s younger sister.
S: “Sometimes. She was little. But if my mom came, then Deborah came, too. We all lined up side by side and walked through the woods together. The forest ground was covered with ivy, so we carried special poles to lift the ivy and look for mushrooms below. Sometimes, we found a big mushroom that had pushed through the ground cover, but usually, they were hidden. As kids, going for mushrooms was the most fun ever. We couldn’t wait.”
C: “Really? You couldn’t wait?”
S: “Yeah, we loved it.”
C: “Even Marco?” Marco is Stefano’s brother, who doesn’t share Stefano’s passion for harvesting nature’s bounty.
S: “Marco always complained about having to do the olives, but he loved foraging mushrooms. It helped that we got to stop and have breakfast at the bar. We ordered cappuccino and big ciambella.” A ciambella is a big, sugar-coated fried doughnut.
I paused and pondered on that for a moment. Sugared doughnuts aside, these kids actually loved waking up early and driving a few hours to tromp through the woods looking for mushrooms.
When our sons were young, had we tried to wake them up early to go mushroom hunting in the woods, we would have been met with vehement protests. I was pretty sure that our nephews in Rome would not be on board with that, either.
Stefano agreed. They are all city kids. Plus, he said, now it’s more regulated. You can’t just go to the woods and pick mushrooms. You need a patentino - a permit that confirms you’ve completed basic education on wild mushroom safety and conservation of the forest ecosystem.
C: “Did you only go for porcini mushrooms, or other mushrooms, too?”
S: “We gathered all kinds of mushrooms: Chiodini, which we called ‘le famigliole’ because they looked like a little family of mushrooms, rovelle, mazze di tamburo, ovuli, prataroli…”
C: So, Pietro knew what he was doing and could identify which mushrooms were safe to eat?
S: “Yes, mio padre and Zio Carlo were familiar with mushrooms too, but Pietro was the expert.
After a pause, Stefano added with a smile,
S: The rovelle were the ones to be careful with. Mamma used to make fettuccine with the mushrooms. If there were rovelle in the pasta, that was only time we kids were allowed to drink wine. Rovelle were known to have some low level toxins, and the wine was supposed to be an anectdote.
Hmm. I questioned the science behind that folklore.
But no one ever suffered mushroom poisoning, and what a magical way to grow up!
Today, instead of foraging for our funghi porcini, we buy them on our computers and smartphones. We are not fortunate enough to find fresh porcini where we live, so we splurge and buy them frozen from the online company Urbani Truffles. They are also available dehydrated, and we’ll use those in a pinch, but the flavor of the frozen ones is so much better.
Ingredients
4 servings
Approx. 300 grams frozen or one ounce/30 grams of dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated.
2 cloves of garlic
Red pepper flakes
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
500 grams pappardelle or fettuccine
Small bunch of Italian flat-leaf parsley, diced
Instructions
If needed, rehydrate the porcini mushrooms according to the instructions.
Cut the porcini into small pieces.
Slice each clove of garlic in half, lengthwise.
Chop the flat leave parsley and set aside.
Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the garlic and a dash of red pepper flakes in the oil until the garlic is golden brown.
Add the mushrooms and sauté for several more minutes, then remove and discard the garlic.
Add the wine and allow it to cook off.
Salt to taste, let cook another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
Place a large pot of water over high heat, tossing in a handful of salt when it boils.
Add the pasta and cook for two fewer minutes than required for al dente.
Transfer the pasta to the mushroom sauce using a fork or kitchen tongs. Preserve the cooking water.
Over medium heat, allow the pasta to finish cooking with the mushrooms, stirring constantly, adding cooking water as needed, and tasting the pasta for doneness. It will take another four or five minutes before the pasta is cooked to al dente.
Transfer to pasta bowls and garnish with parsley.
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Wow, you can buy porcini mushrooms stateside? Even if they’re frozen… Life just got a little bit better this morning. Thanks!
This reminded me a little of a wonderful movie called The Truffle Hunters that came out a few years ago. That spirit of foraging is alive and well in the countryside!