Michelin star chef, Tom Kitchin, sings the praises of one of nature’s finest ingredients, Scottish ceps
Mushroom season is in full flow right now and over the last couple of weeks I’ve received deliveries of fresh from the ground mushrooms at my kitchen door, including golden girolles, popular wild velvet bolettes and large, meaty ceps.
The ceps I’ve received this year have been exceptional thanks to the heavy rains and flashes of sun we’ve seen over summer here in Scotland. We might not have appreciated the Scottish summer weather over the holiday period, but it certainly has benefited in some ways!
Fresh ceps, which are also known as Porcino or Porcini mushrooms, look so incredible when they arrive straight from the ground, in all manner of sizes. Sometimes we present a small basket to our diners before they’re cooked so they can see how wonderfully fresh they are, taken straight from nature itself. I’m not alone in appreciating this wonderful ingredient either, as ceps are very much regarded by chefs and cooks across the world as some of the finest eating mushrooms you can find.
In Scotland, ceps can be found growing in soil at the edges of clearings and forests. They are an incredibly meaty, creamy type of mushroom, identified by their earthy colour, spongy underside and white, bulging stem. They are a joy to eat cooked in pastas, risotto’s, stews, casseroles or even very simply with eggs or on toast as a light supper, bringing a wonderfully deep, rich, woody flavour and nutty texture to dishes.
Whatever you do, don’t let the late summer and early autumn pass without trying these wonderful Scottish mushrooms.
BABY VEGETABLE SALAD WITH CEPS
SERVES 2
Half a baby gem lettuce
2 baby carrots, sliced
2 florets of cauliflower, sliced
2 baby courgettes, sliced
2 radish, sliced
4 ceps – 2 for cooking and 2 for serving raw slices
100g Isle of Mull cheddar
1tbsp crushed hazelnuts
1tbsp duck fat or olive oil
Hazelnut oil
Slice all your baby vegetables (you can do this in advance and place in iced water until ready to use). Clean and prepare the ceps, keeping two aside for slicing and serving raw.
Heat a non-stick frying pan and add duck fat or oil. Place ceps into pan and season with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side depending on size, cook until caramelised.
Remove all sliced vegetables and place in a bowl. Add the ceps and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with hazelnut oil and using a vegetable peeler, slice strips of Mull cheddar. Carefully slice the remaining two ceps and place all ingredients in bowl including the crushed hazelnuts and serve.
RISOTTO WITH GARLIC, CEPS, PARSLEY AND CRISPY PARMA HAM
SERVES 4
800ml chicken stock
100g butter
1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g risotto rice
100ml white wine
Olive oil for cooking
8 slices of Parma ham
250g ceps, cleaned
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2tbsp chopped parsley
100g Parmesan, freshly grated, plus extra shavings to serve
Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a saucepan and keep it at a low simmer. In another heavy-based saucepan, melt 50g of the butter, add the onion and sweat for 3-4 minutes to soften without colouring. Season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains in the butter. Cook for 1 minute, then pour in the white wine and let bubble to reduce right down.
Now start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring and allowing each addition to be fully absorbed before adding the next. Continue to add the stock in this way until the rice is al dente (cooked but with a slight bite); this will take 15-17 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and add a little olive oil. Fry the Parma ham in batches as necessary until crispy; remove and set aside.
Chop the ceps length ways, if they are very large. Heat a little more oil in the pan and add the ceps with some seasoning. Cook over a medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes until tender; remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain the liquid from the pan into the risotto. Wipe the frying pan clean, add a little more oil and sauté the chopped garlic for a minute. Remove from the heat, add the crispy Parma ham slices, ceps and chopped parsley and set aside, ready for serving.
Once the risotto is cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Add the grated Parmesan and remaining 50g butter, in pieces, and fork through.
Divide the risotto between warm serving bowls and top with the ceps, crispy Parma ham, parsley and garlic. Finish with a few shavings of Parmesan.
SAUTEED CEPS SERVED ON SOUR DOUGH WITH FRIED HEN’S EGG
SERVES 2
2 slices sour dough, toasted
2 large ceps
1tsp chopped garlic and parsley
2 hen’s eggs
2 slices of bacon, crispy
1tbsp duck fat or olive oil
Clean the ceps by carefully removing any soil and washing gently with cold water if needed. Heat a heavy bottom frying pan, add fat or olive oil. Cut the ceps in half, depending on size and place in to the frying pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side depending on the size. once cooked (you can check with a small knife if there’s any resistance) remove from the heat.
Heat another non-stick frying pan and add oil. Fry the eggs for 2-3 minutes until cooked, keeping the yolk soft in the middle. Add garlic, parsley and bacon to ceps and toss together before serving on toasted sour dough. Place the eggs on top and serve.