Boletus edulis and caramelized onion toasts

This week has been great for all those mushroom lovers, lots of rain and cool but frost-free weather have filled the entire field with one of the richest products of autumn: Boletus . I have been preparing dishes for several weeks with this delicate and tasty mushroom that I will publish on the blog. Of all the recipes I keep one especially for its simplicity and flavor: a simple  crispy bread toast with a small caramelized onion mantle that goes great with the soft touch of hazelnuts that Boletus Edulis gives us .

After a year 2011 with almost no mushrooms, this 2012 is being incredible. I encourage you to go for a walk in the woods or the countryside, as the season is not over yet and this fall will be to remember. Those of us who are amateurs have to take advantage and try to get hold of the best specimens to bring seasonal cuisine to our homes. Encarna and Evelio  are behaving like the best ambassadors of this mycological world and every week they bring me a specimen from the Madrid mountains, yesterday they collected almost four kilos of chanterelles , so you already know that it is playing this week in my kitchen.

For those of you who are not familiar with Boletus edulis  I will tell you that its use in cooking is always synonymous with success thanks to its flavor and texture. But above all because it is an uncomplicated mushroom, easy to recognize and that does not raise doubts about whether it will be edible or not. The name of Boletus comes from the Latin and simply means mushroom, any mushroom, in Catalonia mushrooms are called bolets , and to go looking for mushrooms is to go to caçar bolets . So Boletus edulis simply means edible mushroom . Until recently mushrooms were more appreciated in Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Soria area than in the rest of Spain, in these regions they have a greater tradition, both in knowledge and in their protection. Recently the fear of the world of mushrooms has begun to be lost, greater knowledge and more information, with courses and trips to the mountains, have made this hobby a world full of good experiences, such as this toast, impressive with a beer. craftswoman, enjoy it!

Preparation of the caramelized onion

When they tell us about caramelized onion, many of you think of onion plus caramel (sugar) but the truth is that it is not necessary.

If you have tried to make it at home and you want to do it well, that is, caramelize onion not make jam, there is a very simple way to get a really powerful caramelized (in 5 it will be poached and in less than 15 minutes we will have the confit onion). A little trick to make your day-to-day cooking easier.

Here’s how to get an almost perfect caramelized onion .

Preparation of boletus toast

In my case, the boletus were already clean, but the first thing is to prepare the mushrooms, so that later nothing strange goes to the mouth.

1. The first thing we will do is peel the trunk a little, if after scraping them they still have dirt on the bottom (there is dirt on the inside) we will clean it. If they are healthy we will have finished, otherwise we will remove the soft or very hollow parts, the ugly or insane parts. Then if we see that the boletus hat has a small yellow sponge, we would remove it, if it is white it would already be edible. In my case they were perfect to start cooking, thanks to Encarna.
2. The easiest way to make them fit evenly when cutting them is to make a horizontal cut at the base and roll. Meanwhile in a frying pan fry some garlic slices with a little oil, as soon as the garlic is golden brown, add the slices of boletus and a pinch of salt.
3. Fry until the mushroom has elasticity and a light hazelnut tone. We remove the mushrooms and toast the bread, my advice is that you do it in the frying pan where you have made the boletus, so it will get all the flavor of mushrooms and garlic.
4. For the assembly, we simply place on the toast a little caramelized onion that we have reserved and the boletus on top, sprinkle with some Maldon salt crystals and eat … yummy, I assure you!

I encourage you to visit more recipes for  delicious tapas, snacks and pinchos for an unforgettable evening with yours. Perfect for a light dinner, a party or, yes, a delicious way to share food with friends and the people you love.

Tips for going to the bush for mushrooms

• We will use a wide wicker basket and never a plastic or cloth bag. We want them to be aerated and spores to stay in the field while we walk.
• The knife is not used to catch it, it is enough to gently grasp its trunk and with a slight twisting movement we will tear it from the ground.
• Once in our hands, we clean the soil from the base of the foot “in situ”, scraping with the razor. What we can clean up, it is better to do it already in the bush.
• If we check any yellowish or dark part in the meat, we also eliminate it “in situ”. Of course, check that they do not carry worms or insects, because you run the risk of infecting the rest of the mushrooms in the basket.
• As soon as you get home, it is necessary to “process them again”: we separate the hat from the foot. We will never use water. We remove the foam from the inside of the hat (it comes out easily with your hands) and we clean it with a brush or kitchen paper on the outside.
• We peel the foot with a knife until we have a perfectly white trunk with a firm texture. If they are small specimens we clean them as a whole, without separating the hat, and we can even leave the foam if it is perfectly white and whole.
• Once cleaned, the next step is to reserve them in the refrigerator, where they will hold us perfectly 3-4 days. Another option is to freeze them raw or lightly sauteed, keep them in oil or pickled. Now, always be sure of what you are collecting from the field and do not go out “blind” for mushrooms. Caution and good sense are obligatory rules in the world of Mycology.