Newsletter: It’s mushroom season! + vegan cooking demystified (livestream)

Foraging and cooking wild mushrooms

There’s nothing like the joy of finding food out in the wild, bringing it home, and transforming it into a sensational supper. Fall is the main season for wild mushrooms in the Northern Hemisphere, starting with chanterelles as early as August and continuing until the end of November, with varieties such as porcini, hedgehog mushrooms, and pieds bleus.

As ever, be certain to buy wild mushrooms from a reliable source. If you’re foraging, make sure you positively identify them before cooking them. Fresh mushrooms need little more than the heat of the pan to bring out their umami-rich flavor, and they’re the making of many dishes. Try Wild Mushroom Soup with Hazelnuts, a vegan Mushroom Pâté, or any of the recipes in our 12 Ways with Wild Mushrooms collection.

Porcini mushrooms, also called ceps, are the kings of the forest floor. They’re among the most sought-after wild mushrooms, with a particularly full rich flavor and firm texture. If you’re lucky enough to get them fresh, simple recipes such as Pappardelle with Ceps or Potato Gnocchi with a Fricassée of Wild Mushrooms will show them off beautifully.

Dried porcini work well too – try them strewn through pasta in Pici alla Boscaiola. Our Cooking with Wild Mushrooms: Porcini collection has 20 recipes to help you make the most of this precious ingredient.

383 ways to cook game for supper

Pictured above: Wild Mushroom Galettes Pastry from Easy Vegan by Sue Quinn

3 great new vegan cookbooks

New on the site this month are three books by Bettina Campolucci Bordi. Born in Denmark to a Norwegian father and Danish-Bulgarian mother, Bettina was brought up in Tanzania and Sweden. Her multicultural upbringing and love of travel have played a huge part in her career path. She is now a chef on health and wellness retreats all over the world – India and Bali are two of her top destinations. Her recipes are flavor-first plant-based cooking at its best.

7 Day Vegan Challenge
Campolucci Bordi’s first book answers many of the questions newcomers might have about plant-based eating. It will tempt you to get started with recipes such as Chickpea Scramble and Quick Laksa.

Celebrate: Plant Based Recipes for Every Occasion
This book will help you tackle the challenge of serving vegan meals for parties and celebrations. Put out a platter of Not Sausage Rolls or celebrate a birthday in style with The Ultimate Chocolate Cake.

Happy Vegan Food
The recipes remain as colorful, inventive, and practical as ever. Try Multi-Vegetable Paella & Avo Aioli or start your day with Almond Butter & Smashed Raspberry Stuffed French Toast.

In our new interview she tells us about her food influences and what she thinks about vegan sausage rolls!

Join our plant-based livestream and recipe demo with Bettina

In the next in our series of free livestreams, you can join Bettina Campolucci Bordi as she takes the mystery out of vegan cooking. She will show that anyone can cook simple, healthy, delicious vegan food with readily available ingredients.

Bettina will demo how to make this Chickpea Omelette, Rocket, Avocado & Mango Salsa from Happy Vegan Food, and will answer all your questions on healthy plant-based cooking.

The Livestream and Q&A will take place on Wednesday November 2 at 6pm GMT / 10am PDT / 1pm EDT. You can register and discover more about the event here. If you’d like to send questions in advance, please send them to hello@ckbk.com with the subject line ‘Vegan’.

A big welcome to...

Also new this week is an exciting recently published book that puts the cooking of Sub-Saharan Africa into the spotlight…

Saka Saka
By Anto Cocagne
The author is a Gabonese chef who studied culinary arts in France and the US before working in Paris as a chef and consultant on African cuisine. She is the artistic director of African Cooking magazine, and her ambition is to popularize African cuisine. “This book aims to modestly pay tribute to many food-loving Africans and reveal a little piece of this blended, positive and epicurean continent,” she says.

Saka Saka explores the food of Sub-Saharan Africa. The recipes are modern but firmly based in tradition, vibrant in color, flavor, and more than inviting. Try Black-Eyed Peas and Beetroot Hummus, or Cassava and Prawn Fritters spiced with Red Nokoss.

What to cook now: pine nuts and wild rice

Pine nuts are the small edible seeds of numerous pine tree species. They are particularly popular in savory and sweet dishes from the Middle East, Spain, Italy, and East Asia. Lightly toasting them brings out their sweet nutty flavor. Try them scattered across Freekah with Pine Nuts & Almonds. They are also a great addition to your baking, as in this Pine Nut Tart. Explore further with our 12 Ways with Pine Nuts collection.

Wild rice isn’t actually rice, so don’t be fooled by its name. It is a type of wild grass, with a firm texture and a delicate earthy flavor. It is easy to cook and works well instead of rice in many dishes – use it to stuff Greek Dolmas and peppers. The dark grains are striking in salads and soups. Try a Wild Rice Salad, Turkey, Wild Rice and Tomato Soup, or any of the recipes in our 12 Ways with Wild Rice Collection.