This italian pine mushrooms and greens peolee is quick and simple. It combines great flavours and texture. A pity the mushrooms season is short. A poelee is a French word that is probably not used much in the world of cooking downunder. It is a sauteed dish. The word sauteed being another french cooking world. In brief, this dish is made in a frypan and is designed to be done reasonably quickly and bring together a range of flavours.
Italian mushrooms can be found around Sydney between late February and late March. The season may vary with the weather. Pine forests in the area of the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands are renowed for it. I was inited years ago to go on a foraging expedition, it was a great discooery, finally a mushroom foraging that did not see me frustrated because I could not see them. Those are bright, orange, big and normally quite plentyful. See that recent press article if you want to know more. You an find the mushroom at your local fruit&vegetable store sometimes during the season. I found it twice at Harris Farm this season.
Here I did it with what was available in the fridge and served them with a grilled pork chop. Combinations are plenty.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4 large pine mushrooms
- 1 head of broccoli
- 2 cups of peas (I used frozen ones)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 5 chestnuts
- 20 g of butter
Method:
- Cut a incision through the chestnuts shell and place them in a low baking dish in the oven (220 deg) or under the grill until the shell is quite dark and a pointy knife inserted in the cut makes its way easily though the chestnut (about 15 minutes). Once cooked, remove from the oven/grill and peel.
- Steam the head of brocoli until the heads are just tender. Remove from the steamer, cut the heads off and set aside. Slice the stem in half to allow it to cook through and return the pieces of stem to the steamer. Cook until tender.
- Â For the mushroom, wash gently under fresh water. Cut the bottom of the mushroom foot if a bit old. then slice lengthway about 7 mm thick.
- Mel the butter in the frypan, add crushed garlic and mushrooms, season with salt and blak pepper. Allow to cook at mid-heat. Do not stir too frequently. Cover with a lid. When the mushrooms are half tender, add the peas and cook for another couple minutes, then add the brocoli, reduce the heat to low. Check for seasonning. You shouldn’t have much liquid at the bottom of the fry-pan, if you do, remove the lid and let evaporate. Before serving add the chestnut broken into pieces.
You can serve the poelee with an omelette, a pork chop or a white fish filet.
