Marinated Porcini Mushrooms: Quick Mushroom Appetizer Recipe

Step-by-step recipe

1. Wash and clean fresh porcini for the appetizer, discarding any wormy or rotten ones. Throw out pine needles, stuck leaves and other forest artifacts. Clean the mushrooms of sand and soil, as well as of all sorts of critters: snails, slugs and so on. Once we had to chase a small lizard around the kitchen; we caught it, and it lived with us for a week until our next trip to the forest, feeding on worms.
   
2. Porcini are, of course, the best choice for a mushroom salad. But the appetizer also turns out well with bay boletes or slippery jacks. If the mushrooms are large, you can cut them into pieces right away, but as a rule this is done later, just before making the appetizer.
3. Boil the cleaned porcini in plenty of water. Pour 2.5 l of water into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add the mushrooms to the boiling water. Cook the mushrooms for as long as you usually do. How long to boil mushrooms is an endless debate with no clear outcome. For example, I boil porcini for 10 mins after the water returns to a boil. If you are not sure that is long enough, cook them the way you are used to. It is entirely up to you.
   
4. Mushrooms produce a lot of foam as they boil. You can skim it off with a slotted spoon or a regular spoon, or simply turn the heat down a little so the foam doesn't spill over. When they are done, transfer the mushrooms to a large bowl and let them cool to room temperature.
   
5. If the mushrooms are large and were boiled whole, cut them up. Just not too finely, or you will end up with mushroom caviar instead of an appetizer. A mushroom or a piece of one should sit properly on a fork and be a proper bite. Marinated porcini are, first and foremost, an appetizer. You know what I mean?
6. Season the cut porcini with salt and pepper, to taste, of course. By the way, it is worth grinding the black pepper right before using it, so it keeps as much flavor and aroma as possible. Let the mushrooms stand with the salt and pepper for 10 mins so the salt dissolves.
   
7. Peel the garlic, chop it finely with a knife and add it to the porcini. Note: chop it, don't grate it. The garlic in a mushroom appetizer should be in small pieces, ideally about the cross-section of an ordinary match. Besides, grating garlic makes it lose its juice.
   
8. Slice the green onion very thinly. It is better not to use the white part. Only the green tops go into the mushroom salad.
   
9. Mix the marinated porcini, green onion and garlic. Add 0.5 tsp of regular 6% table vinegar. Strictly speaking, the amount of vinegar is a matter of personal taste. Still, a mushroom appetizer should have at least a slightly tangy flavor.
10. Let the mushroom appetizer stand for 10 mins. Dress the mushroom salad with vegetable oil.
    
11. Transfer the marinated porcini to a salad bowl and sprinkle the mushroom salad with more finely chopped green onion.
    
12. An excellent mushroom salad. Just right for a good feast. By the way, if the mushroom appetizer sits in the fridge for a while, it gets even tastier.