This tasty golden Chanterelle or Girolle mushroom pasta is simple but deliciously elegant.

Golden Chanterelles, also known as Girolles (French), are perfectly yellow, succulent and delicate mushrooms and central to the Nordic cuisine. Forming a symbiotic association with pine or birch, they grow in broadleaved or coniferous woodlands.

In Scandinavia, I pick them myself or buy them relatively cheaply in the street or supermarket from early summer to late autumn. They are available in Britain too but at a much higher price. Even so, they are well worth their weight in gold and comparable to investing in a good piece of meat. You also do not need so many Chanterelles to enjoy their amazing flavour.

In this recipe, Chanterelles are fried in butter and paired with parmesan, curly kale crisps and crispy bacon. The combination is fantastically tasty.

Makes: 4  Time: 40 min

INGREDIENTS

200 g Fresh Golden Chanterelles (Girolles in French)
25 g butter
2 garlic cloves sliced
200 g smoked streaky bacon (12 rashers)
1 yellow onion
Spaghetti for 4 persons
100 g Parmesan coarsely grated
8 – 10 tbsp double or single cream
Salt and pepper

CURLY KALE CRISPS
200 g curly kale
Sea salt

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 100°C / 80°C Fan / 220°C Fahrenheit

2. Clean, dry and tear the curly kale leaves into bite size pieces. Discard any thick stems. Massage the leaves by hand with a good drizzle of olive oil and a generous amount of salt. Arrange on a paper lined baking tray without any overlaps. Bake in the oven until wonderfully crisp (approx. 15 min.).

3. Prep the Chanterelles by brushing off any dirt and slicing them lengthwise once, twice or thrice depending on size. Very small mushrooms can be left whole. The prepping is very important as a crunch of soil will spoil the recipe.

4. Boil the pasta al dente according to package instructions. Reserve a cup of the pasta cooking water.

5. Meantime and on a medium heat, fry the Chanterelles in a dry pan until enough water has been released and they have shrunk in size. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan or they will boil rather than fry. Add the butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Fry until the garlic is crispy and the mushrooms crispy but still soft.

6. At the same time, fry the chopped onion and bacon in a dry pan until crispy. Added fat is not necessary as the bacon will release fat. Season generously with salt and pepper and lower the heat right down before adding the cream and the reserved pasta water.

7. Drain the pasta and add it to the bacon, stirring until mix. Add more seasoning if required and half of the parmesan.

8. Arrange the pasta on plates, top with the rest of the parmesan, more pepper, chanterelles and curly kale crisps. Serve immediately.

TIPS: Make more curly kale crisps then required for the recipe and serve with pre drinks. Making the crisps in advance is also one less thing to think about when making the recipe.

Me picking Chanterelles south of Gothenburg, Sweden

Chanterelles in a Helsinki market. Compared to London, the price is one third. As Sweden, Finland is larger than the UK and has large forest areas where these wild mushrooms thrive.