Foraging, fungi, frittata

One of the many exciting aspects to moving into a new area is foraging out new shops, food markets and suppliers. Since moving in to Streatham in July I've been jumping on new buses seeing where they lead me or walking up, down and around the main street checking out the best places to shop at. So much fun to do especially as new areas in London mean new communities which mean new cuisines. All so exciting to an excitable food lover.

One of my favourite  new suppliers is in West Norwood (8 mins away by a wee bus). It's a fruit and vegetable stall on the corner of Robson Road and Norwood Road. It's a great little stall with a good variety of seasonal fruit and vegetables and friendly stall holders who are ready to point out the “those are lovely, luv, fresh in” goods which I've been buying up. Great potatoes, juicy clementines, very moreish fresh walnuts and, more recently, some mushrooms. A lot of mushrooms in fact; shitake, ceps, closed, portabello, shimeji... lots. And all reasonably priced. Of course once you have all those pretty fungi you may be wondering what to do with them besides admiring and drawing them. Well, I made a frittata and I urge you to do the same.

As most of you know a frittata is an easy hybrid of an omelette / spanish tortilla. There really is nothing to it and I'm sure most of you already know how to make them. However, the one thing you need to remember here is to cook the mushroom mix first. There is nothing as disappointing as undercooked, egg-soggy mushrooms (well, obviously, there is but let's skip that now, YOU know what I mean). This is how I made my fungi frittata, it takes no time and goes well with a glass of something suitably chilled, bright and delicious like a Chablis. If you insist, ta, cheers.

Fungi Frittata

For 2 to share

4-5 eggs
(lightly beaten and seasoned, add a bit of Dijon mustard if you like. I did.)
A mix of mushrooms all brushed clean, sliced up
(about a couple of handfuls or three)
A couple of shallots sliced finely
A small clove (or half a clove) of garlic - optional
Butter - some good knobs
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Herbs, chopped - I used thyme and parsley but you can use your favourites

Method

Easy. Start by preheating the oven to about 180C.

Sauté the mushrooms in a good knob of butter and some olive oil to stop it burning over a mid flame in an ovenproof frying pan. You want the mushrooms to brown but not sweat in their juices so keep the heat on the high side of medium but watch as you don't want them to burn. When they begin to brown (yum) and smell tempting, drain and remove to a plate retaining any butter/oil in the pan and lower the heat. Add the shallots and garlic if using (I love garlic mushrooms but in this recipe I only want garlic as a background note) sauté gently till shallots are translucent again watching to make sure the garlic does not burn and become bitter. Remove shallot and garlic and add to mushrooms.

Now add some more butter to the pan and melt till foaming before pouring in the eggs. Cook over the low heat and when you see the bottom begin to set sprinkle over the herbs then add the cooked mushrooms mix and a good grinding of black pepper and salt (I love salt on mushrooms, usually I try to remain frugal with salt but when it comes to mushrooms I just have to have the salty oomph).

Pop into the preheated oven for around 5 - 8 minutes until the centre looks just set.

Now eat from the pan / slide onto a plate and divide / stuff into crusty bread with lashings of butter. No rules whatsoever, it's your call.