As a red-wine loving vegan, mushrooms have a special place in my heart because they go so well with so many of the wines I love.  Now that we are deeply into the Fall season and mushrooms are prolific, I am practically in heaven.  Supper tonight is an example.

For the first course, I made a simple Mushroom Consommé, from Viana Laplace’s cookbook, Unplugged Kitchen.  The recipe is astonishingly simple and good, although I embellished it by roasting the mushrooms first, which enriches their flavor.

Over the past few days I had collected cremini, Portobello, shitake, baby shitake and chanterelle mushrooms.  First I cooked the chanterelles in a sauté pan, while in a preheated 450º F. oven, I oven-roasted the others with just olive oil, salt and pepper.  These were supplemented by a handful of Italian dried porcini which were soaked in warm water for a half hour, then drained and chopped.  Combining the chanterelles and the porcini with the roasted mushrooms, I saved about half of all them for my pasta sauce.  The rest went into the soup pot with 6 cups of fresh spring water and the porcini water after they were drained, and were simmered at a lively pace for about an hour.  After straining out the mushrooms, the remaining broth was served in porcelain espresso cups — rich, warm and engaging.

The main course was made by simmering the remaining mushrooms with two whole tomatoes from a can of my best peeled Italian tomatoes, plus sliced garlic and a sprig of rosemary from the garden.  At various times I added a little white wine, some tomato juice and pasta water to get the roasted mushrooms tender enough in the sauce.  After boiling 2/3 of a box [250 g.] of tagliolini al tartufo for a few minutes, I drained the pasta and added it to the simmering mushroom sauce.

The pasta was served with fresh spinach in garlic and olive oil, and oven-roasted endive from a Mark Bittman article online this week, using a Marcella Hazan recipe.  The wine choice worked beautifully.  It was a 2011 Linne Calodo Rising Tides, from their new release that just arrived yesterday.  It is a blend of Grenache (38%), Mourvedre (32%), and Syrah (30%).  Rich Central Coast California fruit, but not overstated — nicely balanced.  When the technology permits a scratch-and-sniff blog, you’ll be able to appreciate the aroma of a wine like this.