---
title: "Wild Mushroom Pasta: An Autumn Recipe and a Foraging Story"
created: 2024-10-25 09:00
author: Amelia Fontaine
keywords: mushrooms, pasta, pappardelle, foraging, autumn, dried mushrooms
description: A day foraging in the countryside, what different mushrooms taste like, how to dry and rehydrate them, and a pappardelle recipe with wild mushrooms.
---

# Wild Mushroom Pasta: An Autumn Recipe and a Foraging Story

It was an October Saturday, dense fog in the valleys and the light coming through the beech trees at a particular angle that I associate entirely with this season. A friend who has been foraging since she was a child had invited me along, with the clear instruction that I was not to pick anything she hadn't identified and that I should wear waterproof boots regardless of what the forecast said.

She was right about the boots.

We found chanterelles first — unmistakable, egg-yolk orange, smelling faintly of apricots, firm as you'd want. Then a large cluster of hen-of-the-woods (*Grifola frondosa*) at the base of an oak, grey-brown and fanning outward. Some bay boletes, beautiful with their reddish-brown caps and pale undersides. A single, enormous porcino — boletus edulis — which my friend regarded with the reverence usually reserved for something religious.

I took home about 600g of mixed mushrooms and some deeply practical lessons about what I didn't know.

## On Flavour

Different mushrooms taste genuinely different in ways that matter for cooking.

**Chanterelles**: Fruity, slightly peppery, delicate. Best treated simply — butter, garlic, thyme. They do not need much company.

**Porcini (ceps)**: The most intensely savoury wild mushroom. Glutamate-rich. Their flavour is deeper and meatier than anything farmed. Dried porcini are one of the most powerful flavour concentrators in any kitchen.

**Hen-of-the-woods (maitake)**: More substantial in texture than most, with a woodsy, slightly spicy quality. Excellent for high-heat searing because their fronds crisp beautifully.

**Bay boletes**: Milder than porcini but with the same family character. Good for drying.

**Farmed alternatives**: Oyster mushrooms have a gentle, shellfish quality and a beautiful texture. Shiitake are reliable and rich. Cremini and chestnut are neutral workhorses. None have the character of wild mushrooms, but dried porcini added to any combination will provide the umami backbone that wild mushrooms supply naturally.

## Drying Mushrooms

Drying concentrates flavour dramatically and extends shelf life indefinitely. Slice mushrooms thinly (5–7mm). Spread on a rack in a low oven (50–60°C) with the door slightly ajar, or use a dehydrator, for 4–6 hours until completely dry and brittle. Store in an airtight jar.

**Rehydrating**: Soak in warm water for 20–30 minutes. The soaking liquid is extremely flavourful — use it as stock. Pour carefully to leave the grit at the bottom of the bowl.

## Wild Mushroom Pappardelle (serves 4)

**Ingredients:**
- 400g pappardelle (or tagliatelle)
- 400g mixed fresh mushrooms (whatever you have — chanterelle, chestnut, oyster, maitake)
- 20g dried porcini, soaked in 150ml warm water
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 40g unsalted butter
- 100ml dry white wine
- 100ml double cream
- A small bunch of fresh thyme
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- Parmigiano Reggiano to serve
- Salt and black pepper

**Method:**

Drain the porcini, reserving the soaking liquid. Chop the porcini roughly.

Tear or cut the fresh mushrooms into pieces — irregular shapes are fine and create more texture than uniform slices.

Heat olive oil and half the butter in a large, wide pan over high heat until shimmering. Add the fresh mushrooms in a single layer (work in batches if needed — overcrowding causes steaming instead of browning). Leave them undisturbed for 2 minutes, then toss. You want golden-brown patches on the mushrooms, not grey-steamed ones. Season with salt.

Add the garlic and thyme, cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped porcini. Add the wine and let it reduce by half. Add the porcini soaking liquid, pouring carefully to leave any grit behind. Reduce by half again. Add the cream. Simmer gently for 3–4 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove the thyme stems.

Cook the pappardelle in heavily salted water until al dente. Reserve a mug of pasta water. Drain and add to the mushroom sauce with the remaining butter. Toss vigorously, adding pasta water if needed, until the sauce coats the pasta.

Finish with parsley and serve immediately with Parmigiano grated at the table.

## The Lesson About Foraging

My friend told me something on that October walk that I have thought about often since. She said: "When you forage, you stop looking at the forest as scenery and start reading it. You notice moisture patterns, which trees grow where, how the light affects the soil temperature. You stop being a visitor." This is true of cooking too. When you understand what you're doing and why, you stop following recipes and start reading the food.

I came home with the mushrooms, with mud on my boots, and with a much clearer sense of what I had been doing wrong in my kitchen for years.
