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Warm Salad of Wild Mushrooms and Speck

Chuck's Day Off • Food • Recipes

Easy, Moderate, Complex

Yield: 8 servings.

Ingredients

  • A nub of butter
  • 2 tablespoons good olive oil (30 ml)
  • About 1 kilo of mushrooms (King Erengi, Shitake, Portobello, Chanterelles, Lobster, baby buttons…) (2 pounds)
  • 2 small ladlefuls of chicken stock (1/3 cup/80 ml)
  • 3/4 cup mixed olives (both green and black) (200 g)
  • 10 slices Speck bacon*
  • ½ bunch oregano, leaves picked
  • A good pinch of coarse salt
  • A grinding of cracked black pepper

* Speck is a salt-and-cold-smoke cured ham that is a remarkable fusion of the much sharper smoked meats of middle Europe and salt-cured, air dried prosciutti of northern Italy

Method

  1. Trim and clean your mushrooms. Shitakes need stems removed. Portobellos need stems removed and the black gills scraped off with a spoon so they won’t blacken the entire mixture. Lobster mushrooms need a good washing in water. The small mushrooms are good left whole. Bigger ones are best torn or cut into slices or chunks. Keep it rustic.
  2. While doing that, place butter and oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. When butter is sizzling add the sliced shallots. Stir till softened.
  3. Pop mushrooms into pan. Toss and then let sit and cook. Toss periodically every couple of minutes for about 6 – 8 minutes. Add a bit of coarse salt and black pepper.
  4. Add 2 small ladlefuls of good chicken stock to deglaze pan and make a nice glaze over mushrooms.
  5. While still in the pan, season with sea salt, and add the olives and Speck. Finally, the oregano leaves. Toss all together. If not serving right away, cover with foil. Will be great served warm but it can also be great at room temperature.
  6. At serving time, remove foil and arrange onto a nice serving platter.