Zucchini (Courgette) Timbales with Pimiento Sauce; and Why I don't 'Mushroom'

It's September and it's starting.

Empty cars sit by the roadside. 

People, apparently out for a stroll, furtively duck into the woods, checking to be certain they're not followed.

Golfers quit walking down the middle of the fairway, instead heading over to the 'out of bounds'  woods and streams.

It's mushroom season.

I leaned everything I know about mushrooming from our friend living in Spain:

     1. Look for the pretty white ones with pink frills.  (These were abundant on our golf course)
     2. Do not pick the identical-looking ones with white frills.  These are called Death Caps for a reason.
     3. Do not forget said mushrooms and leave in your golf bag, in the sun, for three days (Ewww!  Talk about slime!)
     4. Do not eat them if the frills are turning brown; this means the maggots are hatching

Now, that last bit really qualifies as Too Much Information.  The logical part of my brain accepts the fact that there are microscopic critters in our food and that food grown outside (where it rather tends to be grown) is bound to have flies and other creatures of nature doing their natural thing in and on them. 
I just prefer not to think about it.

I leaned everything I know; not everything he knows.  As you can see I am not qualified.  Not to worry; we can take our find of mushrooms to the local pharmacy and they will pick through them, giving a mini-mushroom lesson and discarding the ones that'll kill  you.

Still I'm just not comfortable with it all.  The last year we lived in Andorra, a 20-year veteran of local mushroom lore put the wrong one in his omelet and died.  His wife (who apparently had little faith) did not share the dish and lived.

And It's not just eating the wrong one that can get you in trouble.   The whole secrecy thing demands that people hunt mushrooms alone.   That's not much of a problems in the fields and small woods of France but In Andorra it's a bit riskier.  One should never go up the mountains alone but, during mushroom season, what other choice it their?  One must keep the best spots secret!

Our Spanish teacher took a tumble trying to cross a stream to get to a particularly rich patch and broke her leg.  No mobile phone service in the mountains; no one knew where she was.  It took her three hours to crawl back to her car; then she had to drive herself down the mountain (standard transmission, of course). 

Five years later she still walked with a limp.  She still went mushrooming.  Alone.

I know that zucchini won't kill me! (Although I found one that got away from me that could have done grievous bodily harm.  It was the size of the Jolly Green Giant's baseball bat; a size which makes it the British 'marrow'.)

For all of you who still have them lurking in your garden here is one last recipe:

Zucchini (Courgette) Timbales with Pimiento Sauce

1 1/3 cup shredded courgette, 1 smallish one 7 - 8" (20cm) no need to peel
1 egg
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup shredded cheese (2oz, 60gr)
1 tbs snipped fresh chives 
1 tsp snipped fresh thyme 

Prepare timbale dishes (ramekins or small custard baking dishes): Butter the dishes, then line the bottom with buttered parchment (wax) paper.  Make two additional circles of buttered paper for the tops.
Whisk together egg and mustard.  Add rest of ingredients and mix well.  Spoon into timbale dishes.  Cover top with remaining circles of buttered parchment paper.  Set into a pan of very hot water that comes half way up the sides of the dishes.  Put into a pre-heated 400F (200C) oven and bake 25 - 30 minutes, until set.  Remove top paper and slide a knife around the sides to loosen.  Invert on to the serving plate and remove bottom paper.  Spoon some Pimiento Sauce on top and around the timbales and serve.

Pimiento Sauce

1 4oz (160gr) jar pimiento (pimento) or roasted red peppers
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
1 cup (8oz, 240gr) tomato sauce

Put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat to a simmer.  Simmer a minute or two, just to blend the flavors.  Remove from heat and puree in a blender until smooth.

I'm hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week (lucky me!).  If you want to participate (please, do) and haven't before, Kalyn has posted a few, very simple rules.

And don't fret, I will be eating mushrooms soon, just as soon as they're in the markets, all inspected and certified non-lethal!

Comments

[JennDZ_The Leftover Queen]

Oh la la! Sounds wonfderful Katie!

[Simona]

In Italy they offer the same service and still every year there are accidents. Yummy recipe!

[Kalyn]

I think I'll stick to zucchini as well. Although there are plenty of "mushrooms" growing in some of the wet spots by my compost pile.

[Lydia]

Oh, I am so staying away from the mushrooms in my woods now! Like you, I do not feel in the least bit qualified to go mushrooming. We do have morels every two or three years, and when those come up, I eat them right away. I stay away from the others. I'm not quite sick of zucchini, yet, so I'll try this lovely mushroom-free recipe.

[Kevin]

This is the first time that I have heard of timbales. It looks pretty good. I will have to try making a timbale.

[Katiez]

Jenn, since the zucchini are endless, thankfully so are the recipes...

Simona, it's a nice service, but still....
Thanks

Kalyn, zucchini are safer...and commercial mushrooms! (Sure those aren't toadstools?)

Lydia, I think I could recognize morels...esp. if I knew where to look!

Kevin, they are good...and easy to make with just about any veg..

[Lisa]

"...the maggots are hatching." Oy -- too much information, indeed! I'm a big chicken and I would never trust myself to find the nonpoisonous variety of mushrooms, so that's an endeavor I will not be taking part in. I do love mushrooms, but only cooked; I just can't eat them raw.

[Jeni]

I still want to try a few more zucchini recipes before their all gone, and this will be one of them. Lovely.

[Casey]

Years ago, when I lived in Houston, I called the local Mushroom Gatherers Society for some advice and was told that their resident expert HAD DIED FROM EATING A POISONOUS MUSHROOM.
that immediately ended my quest to learn mushroom-gathering.

[Katiez]

Lisa, I prefer wild mushrooms cooked...for obvious reasons. I'm okay with the little white button mushrooms raw...

Jeni, mine got a late start... they'll be around for awhile...

Casey, when the experts go toes-up it IS kind of off-putting to the rest of us...

[Tanna]

Isn't there always one more lurking unseen until it's become the worlds biggest zucchini. I'm sure this is a wonderful recipe for the summer's last few zucchini. My dad used to mushroom hunt, took us kids with him. Mom would cook them but never ate them and wouldn't let us kids have any.

[blue zebra]

Hahahaha Katiez you had me right up "until the maggots hatched". Then my head exploded and I died. ;)

I will never go mushroom huntin! Hell I don't even make our own preserves for fear of killing us from botchulism!

I adore ninja zucchinis and indeed z's of all sizes :D. The recipe and write-up were so much fun and I will have to try the recipe soon. You rock!

[Linda Blondheim]

This is a charming and delicious blog.
Linda

[Katiez]

Tanna, your mom was like the woman in Andorra! And why do we always miss one? It's the same with cucumbers, beans, whatever. I find a giant and think 'How could I have NOT noticed this?'

Thanks, BZ, the hatching maggots put me off a bit, too... I do make pickles, jams, tomatoes...haven't killed us yet (touch wood!)

Linda, thank you and thanks for visiting!

[Nora]

Oh Katiez, an enjoyable read. I just leave the mushroom hunting to the "experts". I wish I can get my hands on some truffles though...

I'm going to make a jar of pimiento sauce so that I have some in the fridge. Thanks for the recipe.

[Gilli]

Hi Katie

That timbale has got my taste buds going.
Luckily I have never had ther urge to hunt for mushrooms it's not easy in the city.

By the way have you ever made Mrs E David's courgette souffle...It's divine.

Cheers

[meredith]

Ha! Last year my old neighbor (who has since died) gave me a discreet brown paper bag full of mushrooms he'd grown in a hole he dug under his house. I fried them up into an omelet that only I ate, the rest of my family snubbed said omlet. Well, I ended up seeing stars, having vision problems, etc... after that homegrown mushroom omlet. So me too, I stick to the market safe variety now :)

[joey]

You are so lucky with all the goodies you can get from your garden :)

[Wendy]

Mushroom advice heeded. Will now cease eating maggots. :)

[Christine]

I feel the same way as you about mushrooms, Katie. We get boletus edulus growing on our property and even though it's prized for its deliciousness, I won't pick it.
Beautiful timbale!

[Joanna]

My mother in law had a very small pamphlet called Poisonous Mushrooms of the British Isles. She would go out mushrooming and then look up the results in the book. If she couldn't find them, she'd eat them. I thought this was quite a good system until we had a mushroom expert here, and he inspected the various funghi that grow close to our house. He showed me three "identical" specimens, and told me that two were poisonous, the third delicious (I had failed to spot the white / pink frill thing). He also said he had found 20 different types of poisonous mushrooms. So now I'm cautious ... but I eat field mushrooms and puffballs when I find them

Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com

[Katie]

Nora, I'm even skeptical of buying from the roadside stands...

Gilli, oooh, a courgette souffle! I'll have to track that down.

Meredith, stars? Now when I was in college that would have been fun~ times change!

Joey, I complain, but I love it...

Wendy, some things we just shouldn't know!

Thanks Christine, I wouldn't pick them
either.

Actually, Joanna, I thought puffballs were poisonous! See what I don't know? White with pink frills - the extant of my knowledge

[Pille]

I'm definitely doing wild mushrooms, as their taste is exquisite, if properly prepared! Of course, one needs to exercise common sense and know the ones to pick and the ones to leave behind :)
Hhmmm. I've got yet another oversized 'zucchini' waiting to be cooked - courtesy of my dear mum:)