Musings around mushrooms - with a risotto on the side

Search Hive using the key word, mushrooms and my account name and you'll find a bizillian lot of posts in which they're either the hero or mentioned. Except for last year when I posted very little and, I honestly cannot remember whether we had any.

Any wot? You mean ate any or from your garden?

Well, yes, we - and I - ate mushrooms but for the life of me, I could remember whether we had harvested or eaten any of our own. Another search for amkhowe confirmed that we did. A mere thirteen days before The Husband went into hospital.

It's less than a month until that day was a year ago. It's weighing on me, I admit. However. Finding mushrooms popping up reminds me of the delight that The Husband took in both coming to tell me, harvesting and eating them. So, supper on Sunday was bittersweet.

Garden foraged khowe (beefsteak) mushrooms, garlic and thyme: a magical combination for a risotto. Served with pan-fried hake and minted peas. Perfect cool autumnal comfort food.

I'm learning to not just cook - just for me - but to do it properly. Before I met The Husband, I used to cook on a Sunday evening with the week's meals in mind. I'm kinda going back to that pattern, but only kinda. I say that because my cooking skills and my diet and what I want to eat are - twenty five years later - quite different.

Anyway, for reasons unimportant now, I have fish in the deep freeze. And it's been a while. Also, Sunday was a taste of autumn and I had a hankering for something other than salad and more comforting. I decided on fish and I would also have peas. Also, because those mushrooms don't keep, I decided to make a risotto.

Before starting the risotto, I gave the mushrooms the long-cook treatment with garlic, thyme and white wine to develop the flavour. At the same time I reconstituted a dried vegetable stock and let it steep before starting the risotto.

Confession: I am not a fan of rice and this - a risotto - is one of the very few ways I will eat it, let alone cook it for myself.

Oh, and half a cup of arborio rice made three (me-sized) portions, so two more meals. What better way to both stretch and savour the flavour of those marvelous mushrooms?

Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma
Post script

If this post might seem familiar, it's because I'm still re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I am adding them in a file format that you can download and print. If you download recipes, buy me a coffee. Or better yet, a glass of wine....?

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