I first read about the cepe mushroom in "A Pig in Provence" that Mary gave me shortly before I left for France. In this biography, the author recalled her childhood of foraging in the forests of Southern France for prized cepes. At 36 euro a kilo (how much I paid at the market), its no wonder why farmers fence off their land in attempt to ward off mushroom hunters.
When I saw these lovely mushrooms at the market, with their brown caps and thick trunks that definitely needed some brushing, I was reminded of mushroom hunting with Mary back in California over a decade ago. We met up early one morning when it was still foggy out, and with knives in hand we trekked up some hillside that I can no longer recall. We were in search of mushrooms gently pushing up through the ground cover, and ended up running around hacking at everything that resembled a mushroom. Luckily, Mary's mom is a seasoned mushroom forager and sorted through our pickings.
Though having the man at the market stand pick out a couple cepes for me is not nearly as exciting as mushroom picking, it still brought back some good memories. After cleaning the mushrooms with a towel and carefully slicing off the dirt encrusted trunk with a paring knife, I made myself a lovely omelet covered in sauteed cepes. Though I can't share breakfast, I figured at least I could share this mushroom post with Mary.
4 comments:
hi Diana, i'm Magali (Clarisse's sister). She told me about your your blog and the cepes so i went to see. I'm a specialist of cepes and i really enjoy to search them in the wood in my area. I cook differently the omelet but it seems really good. There's a speciality with special cepes of Bordeaux call ceps a la bordelaise. If you ever visit us, i'll make you some. Bye, Mag
Yay Porcinis! Will try to go mushroom picking this year. The mushrooms we picked were masloynki or "butter" mushrooms as Mom calls them because they have a slimy cap. Their proper name is Boletes which are commonly found in the forests of Northern California. If you get a chance buy Chanterelles at the market. They are even tastier than Porcinis. You can eat them Russian style, fried in butter with potatoes and sour cream! :)
M
Mag - That is great that you can go mushroom picking around your home. When does the season end? Thanks for visiting my blog!
D,
The season begins often during august if it's enough sunny and after a good rain and can ends on november. But this year it has not rain enough, so we can't find some in my area. Maybe in october...But i know there are some in the state next to our call Dordogne (which is well known for foie gras and cepes). I wish i could go but i'm 7 month pregnant so it's not possible... But i have picture from the ones we found last year so if you want to see want Bordeaux cepes look like, i'll send you picture. On the little market place around home, we can buy cepes for 15€ a kilo. But in Paris, everything is expensive... Take care, Mag
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