Saffron Milk – Caps

My favourite foraged mushroom of this season is a beautiful apricot coloured gift from the forest, the saffron milk-cap. An unusual fungus but so versatile, offering a generous texture and taste to any savoury recipe. 

After the September drought, where the pickings have been so sparse, October is looking up and James, my fungus-loving partner is finally returning home with a decent trug of treasure. Still not as bountiful as last year’s harvest but enough for a delicious meal each evening and a few preserves to boot. 

So far, we’ve had beefsteak fungus on toast, a tasty stir fry with Chicken of the Woods, some parasol soup, plenty of pasta sauces and omelettes, and of course dried and stored the Ceps and Hedgehog fungus (to capture full flavour).

Currently, the most abundant offering, seems to be the Saffron milk-cap which can be found under pine trees, very, well camouflaged by bracken and needles. They’re a magical looking fruit, with hollow milky stems, and bright orange gills. The caps mimic the colour of the fallen pine-needles, a sage green centre radiating out to a dusty amber. 

They’re a dream to cook with, not melting or crumbling in the pan like other species but holding their shape as well as absorbing flavour. In fact, it’s hard to describe the texture of this unusual mushroom, not as meaty as Chicken of the Woods or with the elasticity of Oyster mushrooms, but more like cooked aubergine or papaya. 

Like some other mushrooms, they need blanching in boiling water for a minute before using, to stop enzymatic actions that could degrade the flavour, colour and texture but also kill bacteria and remove excess dirt.

So far this is our most favourite Saffron milk-cap dish:

Saffron Milk-Cap Roule

Ingredients:

Saffron milk-cap mushrooms, halved and blanched for one minute.

Cream cheese

Shallots, chopped

Garlic cloves, x2 crushed.

White wine, splash of.

Sea salt

Black pepper

Turmeric

Lemon juice, 1/2 a lemon

Fresh Sage

Dried or fresh marjoram

Pine nuts and/or sunflower seeds

A sheet of ready-made puff-pastry.

Parmesan cheese, grated.

Method

Slowly sweat about two chopped shallots in butter or oil until see-through and glossy. 

Add the garlic, mushrooms (about a small trug-full), lemon juice, wine and sea salt and cook on a low to moderate heat for 10 minutes or until the mushrooms begin to release their juices. 

Now add two teaspoons of turmeric, chopped sage and a teaspoon of marjoram. Cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put the pan to one side to cool a little.

Line a large, greased baking tray with grease-proof paper and place an average sized glass tumbler, upside down, in the centre.

Now roll open the ready-made puff pastry and cut into long triangles from top to bottom across the width. 

Place the wide base of the triangle around the glass radiating like petals with the tips pointing outwards.

Now add a tub of cream cheese to the mushroom mixture and gently mix into a gloopy sauce.

Add the sauce to the pastry flower shape by spooning all around and close to the edge of the glass.

Sprinkle the parmesan and nuts over the sauce.

Remove the glass tumbler from the centre and curl each petal over the mixture, tucking the tips under to create a wreath.

Now paint the pastry with a whisked egg and pop in a pre-heated oven and cook at 170 degrees for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

This dish makes a great vegetarian Sunday roast, delicious with all the usual trimmings. It also freezes well.