Crème à tartiner aux cèpes

Wild mushroom spread

This is a simple recipe that your guests will appreciate at cocktail hour. Dried wild mushrooms, preferably porcini (cèpes), are rehydrated and mixed with cream cheese, dill, red onion and black pepper. The spread is served on toast.

The main difficulty you may encounter is finding the dried mushrooms. I found some in Paris at Naturalia, an organic food shop. (The packet says, ‘The ones we gathered are the ones that the bear didn’t eat’.) They are also available online in many parts of the world. Go for sliced mushrooms, not whole ones.

My friend Vera, who invented this recipe, likes to add a bit of red pepper — piment d’espelette, a mild red pepper from the French Basque country; crushed cayenne; or chopped red bell pepper. Personally, I prefer the spread without red pepper.

Another thing — the quantities in this recipe are approximate. You can use a bit more or less of cream cheese, and ditto the mushrooms, dill and red onion. For the cream cheese, I use a variety sold in France that is creamier than Philadelphia. If you use Philadelphia and the spread feels too thick, add a tablespoon of cream.

The quantities below will make enough spread for 6-12 people. If you have extra, you can refrigerate or freeze it for another occasion.

1-1/4 cup (20 grams) dried porcini mushrooms (cèpes)
2 cups water
1/2 tsp. olive oil
10 ounces (300 g) cream cheese
1 small red onion
several fronds of fresh dill
freshly ground black pepper
optional: pinch of piment d’espelette or cayenne, or 1 tbsp. minced red bell pepper

Rinse the dried mushrooms.

Bring the water and olive oil to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the mushrooms, turn down the heat and simmer until all the water has evaporated, 20-30 minutes. Be careful, as this goes quickly at the end and you don’t want the mushrooms to burn.

While the mushrooms are cooking, transfer the cream cheese to a bowl. Finely mince the red onion and add. Snip enough dill to make 1-2 tbsp. and add. Grind on some black pepper. Stir to blend. If you’re using red pepper of any sort, add it now. Stir again.

When the mushrooms are ready, tip them into a sieve and allow to cool. This goes more quickly if you pour some cold water over the mushrooms, in which case allow to drain.

Take a look at the mushrooms. If you have any whole caps, stems or mushrooms, slice finely. Then add to the bowl and stir well to blend.

Refrigerate until ready to use. Then toast some sliced bread and add the spread. Decorate with extra dill fronds.

Serves 6-12 people.