packing my suitcases and cooking mushrooms

soooooo i'm packing my bags: one to campania, the buffalo and the festival of the sea, officially: the jewels of the sea, islands of wonder.....then to the catskills for daughters party: shlepping dried porcini, parmigiana cheese, and porcini stock cubes for the wild mushroom lasagne which will be divine, the porcini ooomphing up the fresh mushrooms that i have no doubt are growing underground right this second, somewhere near new york city! I think i can hear them if i am very quiet...

my suitcase for new york over there, valise for italy over here....running running between the two, getting a little frightened that i'll pack the wrong clothes for the wrong place: festival mink stole for the catskills (not) or funky tunics and leggings for the jewels of the sea. i think i'll put a toothbrush in both suitcases, so that i at least have something not to worry about.

.... in the midst of paoking, hubby comes home from shops with two MASSIVE sacks filled with mushrooms. open cap sort of portobello-ish mushrooms which are just considered ordinary big mushrooms here in uk. he'll never cook them; they'll languish in the kitchen rotting until my return. i can't have that--won't allow myself to leave if i know they will be wasted. i'm a little compulsive that way.

My mushrooms needed to cook. being mature they weren't getting any better, minute by minute. i sauteed them all, sliced, in a large pan with a small amount of olive oil and half a chopped onion. At some point i added a couple of chopped garlic cloves.

When it gave off a surprisingly large amount of liquid i tossed in a handful of dried dried polish mushrooms, broken into tiny pieces. if you have a chance to go to poland, its worth it for many reasons not least of which is dried mushroom shopping. you can, of course, use dried porcini.

the bits of dried mushroom will help absorb some of the excess liquid. Season it with a porcini stock cube. oh i know, stock cubes, or bouillon cubes as they are known in usa are salty, and many say, identifiable in flavour. i find that the italians don't have a problem with this, and toss a little bit of stock cube into a sauce or soup, just to help it along. porcini stock cubes are fabulous this way; crumble one into anything mushroomy and your ordinary mushrooms are transformed.

The mushrooms are gorgeous.no cream, no butter, no nuthin else. we ate some with leftover chicken, browned to warm in a nonstick pan, showered with snipped fresh chives from the garden; tonight we'll have pasta with lashings of the mushroomy sauce and freshly grated parmigiana. tomorrow: crack of dawn flight. easy jet. a bring your own breakfast flight. mine is a panini of goats cheese with mushrooms.

and then....then i'll be ready for mozzarella! i'm told that the buffalo already know that i'm coming.....