This is the recipe I’ve been waiting all year to share with you – waiting for there to be fresh wild mushrooms – popping out of the ground everywhere so that you’d be picking them and wondering how to use them up.
This is the mushroom pie to beat all mushroom pies. I had it first at our friends’ house in Karja, Finland – simultaneous with an introduction to my now-favorite fall mushroom: the Yellow Foot Chanterelle, known in Finland as the Suppilovahvero.
This mushroom pie is so easy to make – but looks glorious sitting all crispy, brown and handsome in the pie pan, served up by itself or with a side salad for dinner. I’ve baked it again and again at home for a simple winter evening meal for J & I and to serve to friends to supplement lively conversation and table side story telling. I imagine you can use most any forest mushroom – I have made it, in addition to the original Yellow Foot Chanterelle version, with a mixture of Black Trumpet (Mustatorvisieni), Yellow Foots and Porcini (Herkkutatti), and not been disappointed either. I’ve supplemented the mushrooms with both steamed nettles (nokkonen) and shredded steamed cabbage (kaali) – both fabulous additions. I tend to use a mild cheese: Edam, Emmental, Mozzarella – so as not to detract from the flavors of the mushrooms, though once with straight Black Trumpets I added soft goat cheese with great success.
Play around – that’s part of the joy of cooking. But before you get too creative with your experiments, though, I encourage you to try this basic & fantastic version first. I’ve made a few tweaks to the original filling recipe though not to the crust, which I love for it’s crunchy oats and the genius of the shredded carrot. I tend to make my pies in a deep American-style pie dish, so my filling yields a greater volume than Ilpo’s original. If you want slightly less volume, eliminate one egg and 1/2 cup (1 dl) milk from the filling recipe.
Ilpo’s Mushroom Pie
Preheat oven to 225°C / 440°F
Crust:
Combine in a medium-sized bowl:
2 medium-sized carrots, grated
1/2 cup / 1dl flour
1/2 cup / 1 dl oatmeal flakes (kaurahiuteleitä)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Add:
1/2 cup / 100 g butter, melted
Stir to form a thick, sticky dough. Press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9″/24cm deep-dish pie pan (you can use a larger, flat tart pan as well). Bake the crust in the oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven heat to 200°C / 400°F
Filling:
Heat in a frying pan:
2 tablespoons olive oil.
Add and cook until tender, about 5 minutes:
1 cup / 2 dl fresh wild mushrooms (if dry, soak in hot water for 5 minutes and measure 3/4 cup / 1.5 dl)
1/4 cup / 1/2 finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley
Remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium size bowl combine:
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups / 4 dl milk
1 cup / 2 dl shredded mild cheese (Emmental, Edam or Mozzarella)
3/4 – 1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
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| Mushroom pie with nettles |
Spoon the mushroom mixture onto the crust and spread it out evenly. Pour the wet mixture over the mushrooms, filling it to the rim. Don’t worry if the wet mixture spills over the crust – often the crust shrinks when baking, but this isn’t an issue.
Place the pie into the oven and bake for 30 – 35 minutes until the pie is puffed up in the middle and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow the pie to rest for 10 minutes. Serve with a side salad.
Serves 4-6, depending on your appetites.