Skip to main content

Spelt Spaghetti with Morchella Deliciosa Mushrooms



The precious mushroom is this one. I don't remember when was the last time I ate one, and fresh! Possibly 20 years???? In NZ I can find some super expensive dried ones from the French deli shops, but I never buy them. I prefer dried porcini mushrooms. And then, last Saturday, our friend Martina invited us to her place in the mountains, in the Adamello Natural Park.









I like the sea, the lakes, the countryside, the cities and the hills, but most of all I love the mountains. At heart I will always remain a mountain person, and for me no food beats the mountain food, especially if you forage it!




Well, foraging with a little bit of cheating this time! These were in Martina's garden, growing naturally under some trees. She left them there for us to find....



Ohhhh, I love mushrooms, and the Spugnola (the Italian name for morchella) is one of the best!!! Martina just cleaned them and cut them and cooked them in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil, a little salt, and a little parsley.


No garlic, we didn't have any, but sometimes it is better to feel the pure taste of the morchella!



She served it with spelt spaghetti. Only those few mushrooms gave enough flavour to 5 plates of pasta, and what a flavour!!! I am still thinking about it!!!


And to wash it all down, a nice Wine from Franciacorta. What a great day in the mountains, thank you Martina!

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini©

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. PamMay 31, 2010 at 11:44 PM

    Great morels! Bet they were delicious and wish I could forage for some! What a fun time! Way to go! Have a good day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RachanaJune 1, 2010 at 12:58 AM

    Beautiful Clicks! The Spaghetti looks so delicious.
    Have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. DailyChefJune 1, 2010 at 2:31 AM

    I love your photos, especially of the cow, the flower, and the mushroom! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vikis KitchenJune 2, 2010 at 12:46 AM

    Beautiful pictures dear. Love the way you presented the nature....can't take my eyes off it:)True, Fresh mushrooms are rare and tasty.Spaghetti looks absolutely delicious.
    Btw, thanks for the lovely comment. I got the background from the below link. http://simplyblogitbackgrounds.blogspot.com/
    I have a button on the bottom right of my blog and you can reach there. So many layouts and easy instructions....Its a much useful for a person like me:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AlessandraJune 2, 2010 at 2:10 AM

    Thank you Viki, so helpful...I don't know if I will want something complicated for my blog, but my daughter would like to play around with backgrounds :-)

    Thank you again

    XX
    A.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ArantxaJune 2, 2010 at 5:15 AM

    Lovely Morels!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Vidya ChandrahasJune 2, 2010 at 5:18 AM

    Thank you for visiting my blog...pictures are very nice...wonderful m.d.mushrooms!!! spaghetti looks yummm

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to make Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum), and Sweet New Zealand

Rose Turkish Delights (Lokum) Before I start I would like to say that I don't have a sugar thermometer, essential if you are really into confectionery, and that I didn't use much sugar for these Turkish delights. Many recipes use much more sugar, and it is not that I wanted to make a low sugar treat here (it is still pretty sweet), it is just that making it at home really makes me realize how much sugar there is already in my diet, and if I can have something with a little less... well, why not! This method is 'home friendly' i.e. these can be made at home with very little effort and equipment, and the recipe comes from my book  Sweet As...  where I also have the recipe for lavender and orange blossom Turkish Delights. Ingredients 1 l water 300 g sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice 100 g cornflour 1 tbsp frozen raspberries 1 tbsp rose water icing sugar (very little) and cornflour (lots) to dust. In a pot put hal...
9 comments
Read more

Silver beet Paneer, a variation of Palak Paneer

The other day I showed you my curry made with borage , ‘invented’ because I have tons of it in the garden! The other green-leaf crop that does well in Auckland is silver beet. My old plants (from last year!) got so tall that I started collecting only the little leaves from the stalks, and they look like spinach. One of my favourite Indian dishes is Palak Paneer (or Panir), spinach with panir cottage cheese, and this variation is made using my silver beet. I washed (many times!) the small silver beet leaves, and then I steamed them and drain them. In a heavy pot I heated 2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil) and sautéed for 30 seconds: 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp turmeric 1/3 tsp ground chili then I added 2 roughly chopped shallots and, after 3 minutes, a good pinch of salt and the cooked silver beet. I cooked everything on low for about 20 minutes (you may need to add just a little water if the silver beet is too dry) and then finely pureed the content ...
5 comments
Read more

Crema Bruciata, or Crème brûlée, with nectarines, plums and cherries

The original recipes comes from my book Sweet As... ,  my own recipe which doesn't require steam baking in the oven and includes nectarine slices. Plum slices and cherries were also added here, and the result was delicious!  In Italy we also call this  crema bruciata , but  crème brûlée  is most commonly used now as it sounds sophisticated :-). To make the crème you will need one egg yolk for each 100ml of cream and 1 tbsp of sugar, for this recipes I used 5 egg yolks (thus 500ml cream and 5 tbsp of sugar) and I filled 8 ramekins, plus I had a little left to fill three miniature ones. Of course if you don't put any fruit on the bottom you will need more crème. It is up to you how much fruit you put in, generally I just line the bottom of the ramekins with 4-5 think slices, this time I think I overdid it (thus the leftover crème) sicne stone fruit season is not long in NZ, and I wanted to use more fruit than crème! Don't use watery fruit and remo...
Post a Comment
Read more