COOKING IN: Mushroom season drives Hugo Arnold wild.
The call of the wild is strong for me - especially with mushrooms. I eat them all - girolle, shaggy ink cap, saffron milk cap and cep - by themselves preferably, or with chicken, fish, steak, or other vegetables. They are good with bread or without, with cream and garlic, olive oil, and butter.
The cultivated examples of our common mushroom, agaricus campestris, are not to be sneezed at either. Roughly chopped and combined with shallots and garlic, cultivated mushrooms will dress pasta, toast, or bruschetta. Served up with steak or fish, they make fantastic eating.
If life is too short to stuff a button mushroom - and believe me it is, I once had to do 500 of them - then the same is not true for a field mushroom. That saucer shape is ideal for a mixture heady with garlic and parsley, laced with butter and topped with breadcrumbs.
I grew up on mushroom soup, a luxurious version rich in cream and butter, which rendered the assembly a rather washed-out beige colour. It tasted delicious, however, and slices of garlic-rubbed toast made it the ideal lunch.
You can curry and casserole a mushroom, a perfect opportunity to add herbs and spices to good effect. And don't forget other vegetables. A mushroom likes company: potatoes or parsnips, carrots or courgettes.
If mushrooms have one flaw, it's their insistence on a bit of rough treatment. Robust, confident handling will draw out the best, both in flavour and texture. Go for high heat and brief cooking; timing is of the essence.