ok – it wasn’t a panini. nor was it teeny weeny. but it should’ve been all of that. and next time it will be. with zucchini. made while wearing a bikini. yeah, like THAT would ever happen.
but i did have half of a whole grain baguette in my freezer which worked perfectly. so after being led willingly down the boletus edulis path by a simple post on a wonderful blog, i stopped at ‘whole foods’ and bought 2 porcini along with a few cipollini onions. the next day after foraging in my meager liquor cabinet i was surprised to find an old and near empty bottle of dry sherry. just what i’d need. and then on an otherwise solitary sunday afternoon, a friend stopped by between errands to contribute to the cause with a handful of just picked parsley from her herb garden and lingered for a mid-afternoon bite of the ‘king of wild mushrooms’.
all it would take were those few things – and some butter, salt and pepper and we’d be well on our way to some fine food.
as an aside, like napolean at waterloo, i’m thinking that the french grey salt’s moist and granular proverbial ass gets royally kicked by the white and flakey british maldon every time. i have become a big fan of maldon for most all cooking purposes. still, don’t touch my guérande. it is for me, the quintessential finishing salt.
it was clear that at these prices the cèpes were going to be well cared for and i reached way back into both my memory and my drawer of assorted kitchen gadgets and pulled out the little soft bristled brush created expressly for this job, the one that had been following me around all these years. the mushrooms got gently brushed of any dirt and then sliced and thrown into a very hot cast iron pan with just a little olive oil to get a bit of a sear on them. then i lowered the heat and in went a knob of butter along with the chopped onions – sauteed until soft, followed by the sherry. when the sherry reduced i seasoned the mixture with salt, added the parsley and shut off the burner and let it sit for a minute. i hollowed out the baguette and filled it with the porcini/cipollini combo, hitting it with a solid grind of black pepper. of course this dish just screamed for a crispy sunny side up farm fresh egg. after all, it was brunch.
next time, i’ll add garlic. i forgot to add garlic. how this happened i will never know…
ps – the diet? not going so well…
9 responses so far ↓
1 Mary Coleman // Nov 19, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Looks to me like you’re eating just fine, Claudia.
2 Tara // Nov 20, 2007 at 7:47 am
Yea, Claudia. If eating a fried egg along side anything is wrong – I don’t wanna be right.
This looks great and probably tasted heavenly.
3 misterybus // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:36 am
Doesn’t really sound like this dish suffers from lack of garlic. Mild, yes, but then each piece gets to stand on its own and say, “this is why you like me.”
4 ceeelcee // Nov 20, 2007 at 8:52 am
I’m with Tara. Name one thing that doesn’t get better with a fried egg on top of it. Go ahead, I dare ya’.
5 lauren // Nov 20, 2007 at 4:02 pm
wow. i’m drooling over here. food like this is why dieting is just so unfair.
6 cookiecrumb // Nov 20, 2007 at 6:04 pm
All you needed was an Eeny Meeny Martini to finish it off. After all, it was brunch!!
I don’t think you’re hurting yourself with this kind of eating.
Sounds like you did a great job with those precious… wait! You copied my recipe!
Aw. That’s so sweet.
7 FireDog // Nov 20, 2007 at 9:36 pm
First off….. I’m not touching your guerande! Salt.
This looks delicious.
I don’t know how any chef cooking such mouth watering fare keeps from gaining weight.
Now that would be a good FRET.
8 newscoma // Nov 20, 2007 at 9:53 pm
My God that looks absolutely delicious.
Whoa.
9 The Professor // Nov 20, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Wow this sounds so great ! I want some right now, and all natural is all good. Not to worry.
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