I keep reading about matsutake and how magical and delicious they are, but I’d never even seen one before last Saturday [really more like 3 weeks ago, I’m a little behind, sorry], when I found some wrapped tidily in plastic at Kotobukiya in the Porter Exchange. Each pack of 2 mushrooms was at least $7, and I did waver in an attempt to be fiscally responsible, but I came home with two adorable little brown mushrooms.
Having no clue what to do with them, but operating on the assumption that simplest would be best, so as to clearly showcase the flavor of the shroom, I did what any cook would do: I Googled. About.com had a very simple matsutake rice recipe, which seemed perfect. And it was. The aroma & flavor of the mushroom goes all through the rice, extending and amplifying itself. It’s quite lovely: it tastes a bit like a woodland floor smells, and it’s strongly savory in the most delicate way. (Of course, like truffles, these mushrooms aren’t necessarily worth the price, but setting filthy lucre aside, they’re wonderful.) Given what I read, the forest floor echo seems about right for the “pine mushroom” (they really do smell a bit like pine needles when they’re raw), and a hot dish of piny earthy rice was exactly what I needed on this blustery autumn day. Let’s hear it for seasonality.