Chestnuts and Porcinis (Boletus edulis)

These are perfect partners in nature and on the table. Nothing could be a better autumn celebration.
Some of our favorite recipes.

Patè of chestnuts and porcini mushrooms

This is a great dish for a lazy afternoon.. I want to ramble on about the thick, rich texture of chestnuts and how they are hearty and sweet yet deeply savoury at the same time, how well they go with  porcini mushrooms, after all they have a symbolic relationship and are available at the same time.

You can however use any kind of mushrooms for this recipe including ordinary cultivated ones. Serve at room temperature with pickled gherkins, onions, lots of nice toasted bread and a bottle of red. Spread thickly.

• 100g fresh porcini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small red onion finely diced
• 250g Nirvana chestnut meal.
• 25g butter
• freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 or 6 juniper berries (optional)

Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a damp cloth; never rinse mushrooms or they become soggy. Chop the mushrooms finely.

Porcini Mushroom Confit
500gm fresh Porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis), cleaned.
1 teaspoons salt
3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 cups extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
1. Preheat oven to 135°C. Slice mushrooms into bite-sized pieces (smaller ones may be left whole). Place in colander set into large bowl, toss with, and let stand for 30 minutes to drain, stirring occasionally.
2. Transfer mushrooms to oven dish with lid, along with garlic cloves, thyme, rosemary, bay leave and black pepper, and toss to combine. Add oil, stir to combine, and transfer to oven.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Allow to cool. Discard herb stems and bay leaves. Pack mushrooms in jars, along with enough oil to cover.
4. Seal. Process using a valoca or similar. Take to 92°C over 60 minutes. Hold at that temp for 30min.remove from water bath, check seal, and allow cooling and storing in a cool place. Once opened store in refrigerator.  

Adelaide Hills and the Big Wet

trees that fell like dominoes

More trees down this morning which means 5 separate events have brought trees down from our neighbour’s scrub onto our chestnut orchard. The trees fell like dominos down the hill mostly roots and all falling on other trees creating a cascade of stringy barks piling on top of each other, spilling out and coming to rest into our orchard and some as far as the valley raspberries.

more trees to clean up

The weather has certainly been challenging with unusually strong winds and rain. This has come after 10 years of below average rainfall which saw our valley and springs dry up earlier this year for the first time in our 33 years here.

Our Spring in March this year

It was just mud

In the last 48hours we have had another 39mm of rain and it’s still falling. This year’s rain fall figures

Jan 73mm Feb 32mm March 57mm April 21mm May 190mm June: 228mm July:276mm August:121mm Sept:337mm . So far in October 181.5 mm in 18 days.

While our valley is used to being wet in late winter/spring –this year it’s impossible to get any work done in the berries as it is so wet any activity would damage the soil profile. So it’s best to leave it with as much vegetation to protect the soil and keep evaporation rates up. The valley is designed with several barrage ponds that slow down the water and many drains going to the main creek. These are all working well but the water keeps falling from the sky! The tree crops should benefit from the rain getting down well into the B horizon. (Except those crushed by falling stringybarks)

As we can’t get out into the orchards, not even to begin the cleanup of fallen trees, I have been kept busy creating works for my Fringe exhibition in February and Quentin busy with fixing chainsaws, generators and now mowers for the local population.  

  

CHESTNUT AND PORCINI SOUP

CHESTNUT SOUP

250 g Nirvana chestnut meal*

100gm fresh porcini mushrooms

600 ml chicken or vegetable stock

15g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 stick celery chopped

1 medium onion finely chopped

1/2 to 1 cup cream

Salt and pepper to taste

A few sliced chestnuts or sliced porcinis lightly fried to garnish.

Heat oil and butter together, add onion, and cook until the onion is soft but not coloured .Add celery and sliced porcini cook till soft. Stir in chestnut meal and allow cooking for 2 minutes. Add stock; season to taste. Stir until boiling, simmer soup for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool slightly. Puree in blender or with stick blender until very smooth.

Return to pan and add cream.( optional) Warm gently and serve.

To serve float chestnuts or porcinis on top of soup .

*CHESTNUT MEAL

Chestnut meal is par cooked and sieved fresh chestnuts prepared ready to create either savoury or sweet dishes.

Chestnut meal can be used to make chestnut puree which is the base for many recipes. It can be used to replace cooked chestnuts where they are then mashed or cooked in liquid. Chestnut meal can also replace chestnut flour in most recipes by adding less liquid.