Grilled Gambas on Raw Fresh Porcini Mushrooms

Grilled Gambas on Raw Fresh Porcini Mushrooms

Porcini season seems to be here again, time certainly flies! When we were in William's the other evening, they served us warm octopus with raw fresh porcini and it was delicious. I always buy porcini and chanterelles when I see them, so when I needed something quick for lunch solo yesterday I whipped up a simple plate of Grilled Gambas on Raw Fresh Porcini Mushrooms.

I was right not to have stuffed myself at noon as dinner was an English BBQ at JoW's...with English people...complete with lots of booze and bad weather in the form of cloudy skies and finally rain. An authentic experience that deserves to be repeated, if I may say so.

The company was great (with some of my favourite ladies, the kind you want to hug) and I've stuffed myself so much I couldn't sit down. We had (chilli) beef burgers, turkey sausages, really yummy pork ribs, chicken satay (with homemade peanut sauce), chicken kebabs, zuchini and black olive clafoutis, apple crumble, brownies and tiramisu. KF brought some sbrisolona from Mantova that I refused to buy the last time I was there, so I finally got to try out this dry-looking specialty. It's a huge shortbread with almonds, not too bad actually.

You know why you need to invite the husbands when you do a BBQ because somebody has to cook the meat. And men who usually do not cook somehow will always know how to barbecue better than you. Maybe it brings out their stone-age instincts, starting and lording over a fire, "providing" the meat. Anyway I think we've done the food justice, because there wasn't anything left at the end of the evening.

Hub and the Teenager played in a 9-hole golf competition yesterday, seeking that elusive golf handicap. They have dreams of playing in some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world - but most clubs only allow golfers with a handicap to play, thereby the quest. Hub missed getting his by just one point - though he turned out to be first in the competition and has won himself the Tortellino d'Argento. Plus an invitation to play for free this morning in the reserved 18-hole Tortellino d'Oro competition. Want to bet that I'd have to do all the work this week in bed? He'll be whinging about a backache for at least a week.

Grilled Gambas on Raw Fresh Porchini Mushrooms (serves 1) :

7-8 raw gambas (shell-on)

1 garlic clove (finely sliced)

1 small fresh porcini mushroom (sliced)

extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

lime juice (optional)

Heat a bit of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic till fragrant (but not brown). Grill the gambas in the oil. Remove and peel them.

Arrange the sliced porcini mushrooms on a plate and drizzle olive oil over them. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the peeled gambas on the porcini and drizzle olive oil etc on them. Add the roasted garlic slices as well if you wish, but not too many of them or they'll overpower the delicate fragrance of the porcini.