Porcini with Chestnuts and Sweet Potatoes

This entry could have also been called „The endless search for Lake Nino with sudden discovery of Porcini“. In the mountains of Corsica, you will find nothing but vastness and you can just hear the wind blowing. You get the feeling that no one visited these wonderful places and landscapes in ages. You will find nothing but nature. The mountains embedded in dense fog which comes up from one to the other minute and overruns the valley like a wave. We left for Lake Nino and everything was fine. We strolled through the fragrant pine forest with the small creek and found the crest after the hike over some pebble. After more than 3 hours there was still no lake in sight. Just fog and the certainty that it would be dark soon. The journey is the reward, they say. We found that this is true after all we saw; nevertheless it’s a weird feeling to go back without reaching the destination. We went the same way back with the difference that we kept our eyes on the dusky floor instead of the landscape. That’s when we suddenly found the porcini, awesome porcini! Just in time, before nightfall, we reached the car, leaving the last meters at the double behind. However, the nice view at more than 200 m height, surrounded by clouds and with yummy porcini in our bags, let us quickly forget about the lake we weren’t able to find. And on our way back to the apartment, there was only one thing on our mind: What do we cook with these nice mushrooms?

Cut the fresh chestnuts crosswise at the top and roast them in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes at 200°C. Peel directly after baking, when still hot. If this is too time-consuming for you, you can also buy pre-cooked chestnuts. In the meantime, peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into wedges. Season with thyme-lemon-garlic-salt. To prepare this, zest a lemon, chop the garlic, pluck the thyme leaves and mix everything with 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Sprinkle the salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil over the sweet potato wedges and bring in with your fingers. Then also bake them for 20 minutes in the hot oven until they are crispy.
Finally clean and slice the porcini. Dice the shallot and sweat with olive oil in a pan. Add the porcini and chestnuts. Then season with salt and pepper and decorate with parsley. Drizzle some olive oil over the whole dish before serving. You can serve this mushroom dish well with a fresh salad.