Summer 2022: Raymond Blanc’s vegan mushroom recipe
Fungi have limitless potential as the future of fashion, Mother Earth and food.
For Summer 2022, Stella was inspired by this transcendental notion – exploring fungi’s transformative qualities in the design realm, and now the culinary world with a series of exclusive collaborations featuring renowned chefs around the globe including Chef Raymond Blanc, OBE.
Raymond Blanc is chef patron of the Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. He aligns with our conscious values, believing in the power of fungi and the importance of protecting our planet for future generations.
Cooking from nature is hugely important for me. Whether it’s come from the garden or from the world – no chemicals, no herbicides, no pesticides… pure – when I can give that to my guests, I know my conscience is absolutely tranquil.
The exquisite countryside hotel includes twelve gardens to consciously grow its own local produce, from organic vegetable slots to a signature wild mushroom valley. Blanc explains the ground's soil is injected with mycelium to promote its fruiting, with about 150 kilograms of shitake harvested per season alongside pink oyster mushrooms and other variations.
For Chef Raymond Blanc, the growth of mushroom colonies is a personal, magical experience – bringing back childhood memories of morel mushroom hunting with his best friend René in the Franche-Comté forests.
From garden to plate, the celebrated chef creates a unique, intimate experience, serving up a delicious dish called ‘Still Life: An Expression of Spring’ using mushrooms and vegetables from his gardens as tribute to Stella’s fungi innovations.
This dish is my special gift to Stella McCartney. I have created it to celebrate Stella’s new and revolutionary range in which threads of mycelium – the fungus that makes mushrooms – are used as a vegan alternative to leather.
Still Life: An Expression of Spring
The vegetables:
Ingredients
4 white asparagus, peeled
6 green asparagus, trimmed
100g garden peas
50g broad beans
1½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small handful monk’s beard
1 small handful baby spinach
1 small handful sea kale
To season, sea salt flakes and ground black pepper
1. Begin by steaming the asparagus in a pan with a little water, and covered with a lid: steam the white asparagus for 30 minutes; steam 4 of the green asparagus spears for 8 minutes (keep aside 2 green asparagus spears).
2. While the asparagus is steaming, place the peas and broad beans in a small pan. Season with 2 pinches of salt and a pinch of pepper and drizzle with a splash of your best olive oil. Cover with a lid and place to one side, ready to cook a little later.
3. Take the remaining 2 green asparagus spears and use a peeler to slice them lengthways. Place the asparagus slices in a separate small pan. Add the monk’s beard, baby spinach and sea kale. Season with 2 pinches of salt, a pinch of pepper and add a generous splash of cold water. Cover with a lid and place to one side ready to cook.
The morel jus:
Ingredients
¼ banana shallot, finely sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 thyme sprig
500g button mushrooms, finely sliced
a splash dry white wine (e.g. chardonnay)
1 tbsp dried morels, washed well
1 tbsp mixed dried mushrooms (e.g. cep, trompette, chanterelle)
To season, sea salt flakes and ground black pepper
1. In a large pan on a medium heat, gently sweeten the shallots in the olive oil for 3-5 minutes – covered with a lid – until soft and translucent.
2. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper, then add the thyme and sliced button mushrooms, and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the white wine, stir well, cover with the lid and reduce the heat to low.
3. After 5 minutes the mushrooms should have released all their juices. Now add the morels and dried mushrooms, stir once more, cover with the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Set to one side, remove the lid and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, strain the jus through a fine sieve.
5. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the jus and set to one side. (This recipe makes more than enough jus for this dish, but you will thank me because the extra jus freezes well and can be used for another dish. The leftover mushrooms from the jus can be used in a risotto or pasta dish.)
To cook the mushrooms:
Ingredients
100ml morel jus (see recipe, above)
50g fresh morel mushrooms, washed well
½ bunch enoki mushrooms
a small handful of toasted hazelnuts (optional)
To season, sea salt flakes
1) In a small saucepan bring the morel jus and fresh morels to a quick boil, and season with a pinch of salt. Remove the pan from the heat and add the enoki mushrooms. Keep the pan to one side while you cook the vegetables, which will not take long.
To finish the dish:
1. Place the prepared saucepan of peas and broad beans on a high heat and bring to a simmer for about 10 seconds.
2. Meanwhile place the other prepared saucepan of monk’s beard, spinach and kale on a high heat and bring to a simmer for just a few seconds.
3. Arrange the wilted greens and vegetables around the plate with the poached morels.
4. Top with the asparagus and finish with the enoki mushrooms and, if using, a few toasted hazelnuts.
Chef Raymond Blanc says: “I must also tell you that a bottle of white wine from the Jura, my region, is an ideal accompaniment to this special dish.”
Bon appétit!
