It's mushroom season.

One of the great joys of eating is to eat in season.  

 Of course that means that you have to wait for your favorites to come back around year after year. 

 Here in France, there are a bunch of folks that go hunting for mushrooms every year.  If you aren't absolutely sure of what is edible you can take your find to a pharmacist after your day in the woods and get verification of whether you are likely to croak or not from eating your mushrooms. 

I am not too keen on the idea of looking for my own but I can see in the markets now that the chanterelles are back and so I made a simple pasta for lunch today.

I  wash my mushrooms and take out all of the woody bits and cut off the rough ends of the stems.  Bits of fern and pine needles always get in the mix.  And I don't bother to dry them because they need to sweat in the pan anyway. 

 Just throw in some olive oil and saute them until all the moisture is gone and they are nice and limp.  Add in some salt and pepper.

I thought with this simple pasta, garnished with the best olive oil,  I wouldn't bother with the parmesan.  The flavor of chanterelles is so subtle, I wouldn't want to mask their perfume.    But I put it on the table and I have to admit that I did use some. 

 And I have to say also, that I used pasta made with half whole wheat flour ( demi-complet) which I really like but Monsieur doesn't.  (Yes, I made two different batches.  What a wife!)

What good simple food!  Try it.