I think i had the best idea ever – recycling cheese off-cuts. It doesnt cost nothing – cause u would put these parts in the bin anyway… like this u can make amazing butter and flavourful wáter – it does make difference believe me.

So the idea of parmezan wáter was coming from long time ago – with this u can add more flavour to your risotto, sauce or soup… now in the restaurant we are using huge wheels of Grana Padano almost every day… and u know how thick is the skin of this? Now if u have a piece of 5 kilos – the hard part is definitely between 0.5 and 0.7 kg. Which goes in the bin…. or…

Are u not bored of your plain butter or margarin in the fridge? Lets have fun…

The proccess is pretty easy – just be careful with yout pot – i lost one because the cheese burns f8ckin” quick and after all it seemed better to rest in piece…

So get your off-cuts with some wáter in a pot and turn as down the fire as possible. Thats it. Move it – dont let the big pieces stick down to the bottom. Infusing. One hour. Reducing. Two hours…. Done.

While its still warm – get rid of the gummy solid mass part which should have quite amorf shape by now (my doggy loves it). Oh yes – and let the stuff cool down. But perfectly. So your special butter will become hard and sit on the top of the flavourful wáter. Thats it. Crazy easy – and u will see (and smell and taste) the result if u just fry an egg using this grease.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… heaven.

To give u a plate as an example…. i could not find better ingredient now in the rainy autumn…. than Mr. Mushroom from the Woods.

Luckily pretty easy to find nice mushrooms here in the island – not in the woods though – but in the local markets. There are good ones and bad ones of course – depending on the weather and of course if they farmed or wild from the mountains.

I have a couple of favourites – the Little Chanterelle (there is a lot on the market but really hard to find good ones with all the sence of nature), Boletus (u need to respect the look), Morels (they just as tasty as funny they look) Trumpet (the meatiest texture  u can find), Shiitake, Enoki and soooo much more….

Important to handle your nice fresh mushroom as it would be your baby…. needs to breath – put in a paper bag not a plastic. Doesnt need cold (dont put in the fridge!) but dont leave in the sun neither. Oh and to prep… of course. I never cut off any part – it would be just waste. If u really dont fancy to eat the stems (however good is it) use for stocks or soups. And to clean? Well… if u can get real wild mushrooms from the woods they must be dirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrty as f8ck. But….

NEVER NEVER NEVER WASH THEM! Ok, i repeat: NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER WASH YOUR MUSHROOMS!

Otherwise u wash off all the real flavour. What u can do? Get a little paint-brush and brush off all the dirt u see. Let me tell u – its just soil anyway – so nobody is gonna die. Even if there are worms inside – with the big pieces its possible – u can avoid to eat more protein as u wanted originally – just cut the big ones half and u see if its occupied :) Thats all basically. Try to cut them as late as posible – just before to make them (they can stay good for long time in your kitchen shelf).

Lets cook!

The cheese-butter melting with some garlic and thyme in the pan. Mushrooms in, a splash of wine with the special wáter. Couple of minutes. Done. Enjoy.

footnotes:

1. careful with the salt – depending how much u reduced the cheese-wáter – the reduction can be very salty already

2. this cheese-grease is acting a bit like butter – texture and smell -and a bit like fat – doesnt burn that easily

So nothing left but wish u good apetite!!!