24 September 2010

we are the champignons: mushroom season au marché de la bastille


I really dig the market stands who present nothing but mushrooms and their necessary culinary accompaniments: spring onions, fresh bay, thyme, garlic, etc. The various mushrooms create these brilliant color-field canvases, and the whole scene is fragant with their poignantly vital scent.

No. 3 / No. 39, Mark Rothko, 1949. 

I picked up a surprisingly large sack of trompettes de la mort (trans. "trumpets of death," i.e. black trumput mushrooms) that day, which I'm still cooking through over the course of this week, testing various variations on the pancetta / spring onion theme. It's making me pine for a good Nebbiolo, which is unfortunate, because the odd great Barolo or Barbaresco or Valtellina you turn up here in Paris is invariably cruelly overpriced. (More than usual.)

Related links:

A blog devoted to mushrooming in Brittany
BBC Black Trumput Mushroom Recipes
The National article on mushroom season

No comments:

Post a Comment