Porcini Pleasures
That's $24 well spent you're looking at and my prize from this week's farmers market. Porcini mushrooms are the perennial World Cup Champs of the mushroom world for me. Their combination of firm texture with rich flavor is incomparable. As always when faced with produce of such fresh provenance, simple was the method of choice. Sliced (as you see) then sauteed in a lot of butter and a little garlic for a few minutes, I then added a few eggs for a slow scramble á la Mark Bittman. Preceded by a insalata caprese with a baguette from Bouchon to wipe clean each plate, I think it's hard to imagine a more pleasurable meal.
After an aperitif of the truly delicious Schramsberg Blanc de blancs, I opened a bottle of our new Oregon wine, the 2008 Cornerstone Cellars Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, and I can't say how thrilled I am by this first effort with our consulting winemaker there, Tony Rynders. Already heady with aromatics, but exhibiting not a bit of the fruit-bomb characteristics I can't stand, I think this is a really complex pinot with just the right earth, dare I say, touch of porcini, that marries so perfectly with the spicy, blackberry fruit of this vintage.
We only made fifty cases in this first vintage, but in 2009 made four hundred. I'm thinking of a September release - If I can bear to part with it.