A mushroom log

At the cheese fair a few weeks ago we were given a mushroom log. The instructions said that it needed to be soaked for a few days in a basin of water and then allowed to stand in a cool well ventilated place away from direct sunlight. Well, we followed the instructions, and this evening I brought the log up from the basement a good two handfuls of shiitake mushrooms hanging carelessly from its sides.

Whilst the kids were called into the kitchen to admire the fruits of our labour I scanned through the books on the shelves for something to do with them. For the second time in a week I found that Annie Bell's Evergreen came up with the answer. Now I know why I plucked it from the shelves of The Good Things Cafe all those years ago. The recipe itself was so simple I should have come up with it myself but seeing the words on the page gave it some form and reassurance.  

The mushrooms were cut from the log whilst a large pan of water started to boil. I took my new frying pan and melted a small pat of butter to which I added a finely chopped onion. That was given five minutes and the odd stir through to soften before I added a squashed, chopped clove of garlic.

Once the water was boiling I started to cook. A bag of tagliatelle and more was put into the boiling water. I turned up the heat under the pan with the onions, chopped up the mushrooms and stirred them in and gave them a few minutes to wilt before throwing in a good glass of white wine. That bubbled for another few minutes whilst I grated a good couple of handfuls of Parmesan.

Grating done I poured in a tub of double cream and drained the pasta. Once the pasta had been drained and shaken it went into a clean white bowl. Before I poured over the sauce I stirred in the Parmesan, some chopped parsley and plenty of salt and pepper. The kids turned their noses up at the mention of mushrooms but all their plates were clean.

This evening we listened to the bitter sweet ruminations of Mark Eitzel. All in preparation for doing battle with Plan B.