Porcini Mushroom

We are not a steakhouse, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when our customers tell us that our rib-eye is their favorite steak in Los Angeles. We start with quality, conventionally raised meat, just like what you will be able to get at a good butcher. The reason our steak is so good is the rub we coat the meat with before grilling it. The rub contains dried porcini, which have a delicious, earthy flavor, and a tiny bit of sugar, which caramelizes on the grill and gives the steak a beautiful crust. More often than not our customers share it among two or three people along with two or three contorni, such as Smashed Potatoes with Rosemary (page 255), Cipolline with Thyme and Sherry Vinegar (page 254), and Sautéed Broccolini with Chiles and Vinegar (page 262) to eat along with it. We order our rib-eyes “frenched,” which means that the meat is cut off the bone so the bone looks almost like a handle, which makes for a more unusual, elegant presentation. If you have a butcher who will do that for you, great. If not, it won’t make a bit of difference in the flavor. Unlike a French preparation, served with a heavy Béarnaise sauce, ours is served with Italy’s two best condiments: quality extra-virgin olive oil and aged balsamico condimento.

In the last few years, it seems like there have been two requirements to opening a successful restaurant in Los Angeles. You have to offer a selection of decent wines by the glass, and you have to offer braised short ribs. You see short ribs served on the bone and off the bone; cooked with Indian spices, Asian spices, and Latin American spices; and served over mashed potatoes, polenta, and who knows what else. I don’t roll my eyes when I see them on a menu because I know how good they can be. Once they’re cooked, they’re good for a few days, so they’re convenient for the home cook. Braise them today; reheat them tomorrow. In the Italian spirit of not wasting any bit of food, shred the leftover meat to make Francobolli di Brasato al Pomodoro (page 177).

You can use shredded Monterey Jack cheese in place of the cotija and queso blanco. Other wild mushrooms, such as shiitakes, can be substituted for the porcini.

You can easily double this recipe and refrigerate leftovers in airtight containers for up to 3 days. The soup can also be frozen for up to 3 months. We used French lentils, but other types of lentils may also be used.

You can use the mushroom broth from this recipe in other soups and dishes as well; it is particularly good in risottos. For a heartier version, add cooked and drained soba or udon noodles, or serve brown rice on the side. This soup can be prepared through step 2 up to 3 days in advance; for best results, store the broth separately from all other items. Proceed with step 3 the day the soup will be served.

This is not your basic antipasti. Serving a beautiful platter of wood-roasted seasonal vegetables, cured meats, hand-crafted cheeses, home-cured olives, and smoke-kissed crusty bread to family and friends as a prelude to dinner is an artful way to honor guests. This is just what chef Chris Bianco does at his restaurant, Pizzeria Bianco, in Phoenix, Arizona. Chris’s wood-fired pizzas are now legendary, but his wood-roasted antipasti platter sings. I hope you will enjoy my version, and create many versions of your own.

Rionero in Vùlture, a tiny village crouched on the hem of a quiet volcano, is where Basilicata’s worthy red wine is born. Ancient gift of the Greeks were the vines called Aglianico, still flourishing, somehow, stitched up nearly three thousand feet onto the shoulders of the long-sleeping Vùlture, their black-skinned fruit nourished by the volcano’s ashes and the nearness of the sun. The yields of the rich fruit of the Aglianico is each year less, not for the nature of things but for the dearth of a new generation of vine workers. Even now, the production is sadly small. Young, the wine is untamed, full of acid and tannin and potential. After five years, an Aglianico can ripen into a wine sitting on the fringes of nobility. After an all-night rain and the next morning’s mushroom hunt in the forests above Rionero in Vùlture, this dish, with a 1992 Aglianico and a half-loaf of coarse, whole wheat bread taken, warm, from the village forno, made our lunch.

The basic method of making risotto will never change; you cook the rice slowly and add broth gradually, so the starchy inside of the rice kernel expands as the outside layer dissolves into creaminess. Risotto feeds the soul and can take a whole range of flavors. I like the pumpkin risotto here, but try a shrimp risotto using shellfish broth, adding a pound of peeled shrimp at the last minute and letting them cook no more than 5 minutes. Or how about a green risotto, with a bunch of watercress or a few handfuls of spinach, chopped fine? Or a mushroom risotto with a pound of sliced fresh mushrooms added to the dried porcini mushrooms. Keep in mind that there's a lot of bad risotto out there, usually because folks overcook it or add too much wine. But if you do have some white wine open, add a splash or two to the rice and onions, just before you ladle in the broth. It gives yet another dimension of flavor.

Making risotto is a simple matter so long as you keep a careful eye toward the end to prevent overcooking the rice, as the mixture will continue to thicken after it’s taken off the heat. Here, the cooking liquid is also used to rehydrate the porcini mushrooms.

This is a dish typically found in the Lombardy region of Italy, or in the Veneto. The extra-creamy consistency of this risotto belies its bold flavors: each super-rich bite is woodsy and earthy all in one. Because it’s so rich, a small portion makes a big impact. I serve it with a simple side salad and a full-bodied red wine, such as a Barbera.

It isn’t often that you can make a condiment with a single dried ingredient, but since dried mushrooms have become widely available, that occurrence has become more common. If you simmer dried mushrooms until tender, then toss them in a blender with their cooking liquid, you get a thick puree, potent and delicious, something you can use wherever you’d use salsa or even ketchup. You can use any dried mushrooms for this condiment, from the extremely inexpensive shiitakes (also called “black mushrooms”) sold at Asian markets to the prince of dried mushrooms, the porcini. Smoky porcini (usually imported from Chile or Poland) are really good here.