Girolles à la Forestière
1½ kg (3 lb) girolles or chanterelles
100 g (4 oz) butter
100 g (4 oz) lean smoked bacon, cut in strips
150 g (6 oz) new potatoes
Parsley, chopped
Salt, black pepper
SERVES FOUR
Wash and trim the mushrooms. Cook them in a bare ounce of butter for 5 minutes, then drain off the liquid. Fry the bacon rapidly in the remaining butter for a few minutes until it begins to brown, then add the girolles and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the new potatoes and cut them into pieces roughly the size of the mushrooms. Add to the pan of girolles and bacon and stir everything about so that the potatoes colour slightly in the juices -this should take 5 minutes. Season to taste and serve sprinkled with parsley.
Chanterelles, or girolles as the French call them, are one of the most popular and best known fungi on the Continent and throughout Scandinavia, where they are served in restaurants and sold in shops and markets. The name is derived from the French diminutive of the Greek kantharos, a cup.
They keep well for a few days and can also be successfully dried and stored. Chanterelles are superb when cooked with eggs or potatoes and make a succulent filling for an omelette, but my favourite way of serving them is as I have illustrated them a la forestiere. Remember, however, when you cook them they tend to give off rather a lot of liquid, especially in wet weather. The excess liquid should be reduced by simmering for 5-10 minutes or, if this is inconvenient, discard it.
Author: Jane Grigson
Origin: This recipe comes from Jane Grigson's excellent book The Mushroom Feast, with her permission.
Alternative mushrooms
Cantharellus cibarius
Cantharellus subalbidus
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