An entire restaurant, up in the hills overlooking Vicenza, completely devoted to the preparation of wild and rare mushrooms, only in Italy.
Finding Al Casin Gamba, in Altissimo Chiampo, is kind of like foraging for mushrooms – it’s a real adventure, and you really have to want to find them – but once you do, you are rewarded with a treat beyond compare. The hosts are beaming with pride, the room is cosy, and there is a table in the middle of the room with three small plates showing for all to see the foraged mushrooms that are being showcased in the evening’s menu. There is Coq a L’uovo (chicken and egg), Trombete del Morto (black trumpet), Chanterelles, and Porcini to name a few.
Porcini, which translated means piglet, is commonly referred to in Italy as the king of
wild mushrooms. The best porcini are found growing underneath the chestnut trees. There are several varieties of this delicious funghi, but the most desirable is the Boletus Edulis or Porcino D’Autonno – the one with the wide stalk, and smallish cap (you can see a slice of one showcasing it’s shape on the top of the papparadelle). This variety is best eaten fresh, to truly experience the silken texture and deep earthy almost nutty flavour. In North America porcini is most commonly seen in it’s dried form – sold in dusty bags…not by folks at the side of the road holding bushels of their foraging prowess. I was told that porcini is tightly regulated – people are only allowed to gather so many kilos (yes – kilos! What I’d do for one kilo!) and during the fall porcini season the “environmental police” often stop people and search their cars. Porcini contraband – it’s a bad scene.
We start with the coq a l’uovo sliced raw and tossed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Who knew raw mushrooms could be so divine. Earthy. Wild. They taste like the forest. Next comes the ‘palette’ of wild mushrooms – five varieties foraged that day, each prepared in a special way – the highlight being the porcini served over a softly boiled egg that was scooped from it’s shell and then quickly fried in butter – delivering egg that existed somewhere in between poached, scrambled and fried. This morsel was so heavenly that one of our fellow diners (who had also eaten there the night before!!!!) ordered an entire plate of the same. Porcini with house made papparadelle was iconic in it’s simplicity – allowing the earthy flavour of the king of wild mushrooms to shine through. Lastly – tortellini (dear friend – I had missed him – had not had a tortellini in five whole days) each filled with pheasant and topped with a parmesan emulsion and a slice of black truffle, with tiny un-named wild funghi encircling the gorgeous plate. At this last dish we surrendered. It’s hard to imagine right this moment that we were too full to try one more creation. I could really go for a plate of that porcini papparadelle right now. First, I need to locate the nearest forest and find some porcini…….
