Field Mushrooms in Buttermilk is a traditional British recipe for a classic vegetarian dish of field mushrooms and onion served in herbed buttermilk. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Field Mushrooms in Buttermilk.
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Growing up on a farm we used to gather bucketfuls of field and horse mushrooms in August. This is my grandmother's traditional recipe for cooking them and come late August I still crave mushrooms prepared this way. Like many traditional folk she used to peel the mushrooms (it's a way of making sure you haven't picked up the yellow stainer by mistake), but if they are young and maggot free then all you need to do is to wipe them with a dampened cloth and trim off the base of the stalks. This recipe would also work with porcini and/or bay boletes, chicken of the woods and hen of the woods are excellent for this but you could also use oyster mushrooms other agaricaceae, blewits and saffron milk caps
Ingredients:
1kg whole field mushrooms, wiped clean
500ml buttermilk
500ml milk
1 onion, sliced
1 leek, chopped
1 small sprig of thyme
2 sage leaves
1 tbsp cornflour
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
freshly-grated nutmeg to taste
butter, for frying
Method:
Add a knob of butter to a large pan and when foaming use to fry the onion, leek and mushrooms for about 3 minutes (turn half way through). Now pour in the milk and buttermilk and bring the mixture gently to a boil (be careful so the milk does not boil over).
Season with salt and black pepper then add the thyme and sage. Reduce to a simmer and cook gently for about 70 minutes. Whisk the cornflour with 2 tbsp water to a smooth slurry then stir into the milk mixture. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens. Adjust the seasonings to taste then remove the thyme and sage.
Serve with hot mashed potatoes made with buttermilk.
