Mushrooms

Sorry for the last photo being posted twice. I blame Blogger.com. I certainly didn't upload it twice (not knowingly anyway).

Well, as you can see, I have been picking mushrooms. There is a culture of picking mushrooms here and it is something that Jose has done with his father and brothers since as long as he can remember - so they were all really happy to be enjoying another excursion together.

I've been once before, last year, but that was not the most succesful of trips as we spent about ten hours looking and ended up with about 4 mushrooms! This year was a lot more fruitful - as the photos show. My kitchen now smells like the forest, and not in a good way. Its overpoweringly "woody" in there and these blooming mushrooms need to be got rid of. Its a real chore cooking them though. Mainly due to the cleaning process. I am under orders to have them all cleaned, fried and then frozen by tonight (otherwise they'll go off). I will do as many as I can face, but the two large baskets, that I keep looking at every time I walk by, are quite daunting.

We must have about 15 kilos ......and considering they sell them at 35 euros per kilo .....I think I had better make the most of these. I must admit that I am very tempted to take them to the local veg shop and try and sell them (my entrepeneurial spirit never dies).

The type that we have in our baskets are called "Rovellons" (thats in Catalan). There are many types you can pick in Catalonia, also many that you should not pick as they can kill you! So, it is crucial that you go with someone who knows what they are doing.

The best way to eat them is fried in garlic and parsely, well thats what they do here in Catalonia anyway. With the amount that we have got here, I am going to try and think of some other interesting ways to cook them.

S xx