John Wright
LATIN NAME
Marasmius oreades
SEASONALITY
Late summer and autumn
HABITAT
Common in lawns, parks and pasture
MORE RECIPES
Hedgehog mushroom and bacon omelette
Those who are proud owners of a lawn hate the fairy ring champignon with a passion. It forms rings of mushrooms in the late summer and autumn, and for most of the year disturbs the immaculate green of the grass by forming a ring of lush grass surrounded by a ring of dead grass. This is caused by the fungal mycelium growing outwards, first poisoning the soil to kill the grass, then, as it passes over, releasing nitrogen which stimulates it.
Gardeners may hate them, but fairy ring champignons are among the tastiest of all mushrooms. They are fairly easy to identify from the mess they make but, if you’re unsure, they grow to 4cm in diameter, have a honey-coloured top with a broad bump on it when mature, cream-coloured gills and a tough, fibrous stem (which should be removed). In dry weather they do dry out, but the first rain will freshen them quickly. Although the mushrooms are tiny, the rings can be enormous and contain a hundred or more specimens.
Fairy ring champignons should always be cooked. The flavour is mild, sweet and mushroomy and the texture pleasantly firm. Although usable in almost any mushroom dish, they taste and look particularly good in a risotto (see next recipe).
They are also very good pickled: clean the caps, place in a bowl and sprinkle with salt until covered by a thin layer, then stir. Leave for an hour, drain off the liquid and sprinkle on more salt. After a further hour, drain in a sieve, then run water through the mushrooms in the sieve to wash off as much salt as possible – but do it quickly! Pat the mushrooms between clean tea towels to dry. Boil enough cider vinegar or wine vinegar in a saucepan to cover the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the vinegar, stir and bring back to the boil. Drain off the vinegar immediately, pack the mushrooms into clean Kilner jars and cover with good olive oil or walnut oil. Keep in the fridge, for up to around 6 months.
This is particularly good served topped with a handful of kale ‘crisps’ (see Kale). If you have cobnuts to hand, use these instead of hazelnuts. Serves 2
About 150g open-cap or field mushrooms, cleaned
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
170g arborio rice
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
700ml hot veg stock
50ml white wine
150g fairy ring champignons, cleaned, stems removed
50g mature Cheddar, grated
20g butter
½ eating apple, cored and diced
10 hazelnuts, toasted (see Hazelnuts & cobnuts) and roughly crushed
Sea salt and black pepper
Trim and finely chop the open-cap or field mushrooms. Heat the oil in a wide saucepan over a medium-low heat, add the onion and garlic and sweat gently for 8–10 minutes until softened.
Add the chopped open-cap or field mushrooms to the pan. Increase the heat a little and cook for a further 7–8 minutes until nice and soft. Add the rice, thyme and bay, and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes until the rice is translucent.
Start adding the hot stock, a ladleful at a time, letting the rice simmer gently and adding more stock when the previous ladleful has been absorbed. Stir often. It should take about 20 minutes for the rice to absorb all the liquid and become just tender but not soft.
Add the wine and fairy ring champignons. When the risotto is simmering again, give it a further 3 minutes of bubbling to cook the mushrooms through.
Now add the Cheddar and butter, take the pan off the heat and stir for 1–2 minutes, until the butter and cheese have melted. Pick out the thyme stalks and bay leaf. Add the diced apple and season to taste.
Serve immediately, so the apple retains its crunch, in warmed bowls, and sprinkle with the crushed toasted nuts before serving.