Cardoncelli mushrooms: five autumn recipes from Puglia

Cardoncelli are an autumn speciality of Puglia, and they count among the region’s typical products for a simple reason: they grow wild, and in abundance, almost everywhere in the region. Outside Italy you may have met them as king oyster mushrooms. If you love them you can even grow your own: there are handy, rather fun cardoncelli kits, small bales already filled with soil that only need to be kept somewhere damp enough, and with a little patience they give you excellent mushrooms. Below are some cardoncelli recipes, and a few things worth knowing about them.

Cardoncelli recipes

Let’s go straight to the kitchen and see what this seasonal treat can become. These are our suggestions.

Cardoncelli au gratin

A very easy one. Clean the mushrooms, cut them in half, lay them in a baking tin and cover them with a mix of breadcrumbs, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic. About half an hour in the oven and they are ready. You will find all the details in our recipe for cardoncelli mushrooms au gratin.

Risotto with cardoncelli

Cardoncelli risotto is a great Apulian classic, and the method is the usual one for any risotto. Soften a little onion, toast the rice, add a splash of a good dry white wine from Puglia and let it evaporate, then add the mushrooms cut into small pieces and cook the rice through, adding good vegetable stock a ladle at a go. Finish it in the usual way, stirring in butter and cheese off the heat.

Cardoncelli Salento-style

For this one you need the classic pignata, the terracotta pot of the Salento, the southern tip of Puglia (our page on Apulian ceramics tells the story of this clay). Start with olive oil and very finely chopped onion and let the onion soften well. Add the cleaned cardoncelli, cut into small pieces, and some chopped parsley. Cook for a few minutes, then add cherry tomatoes cut into wedges. Season with salt, put the lid on and cook through, adding half a glass of water if needed. It is a side dish that goes very well with good bread from Altamura, the town in the Murgia known for its famous bread.

Sautéed cardoncelli

Funghi trifolati, mushrooms sautéed with garlic and parsley, is a classic that suits any kind of mushroom. It could hardly be simpler: cook the mushrooms in a frying pan with olive oil, garlic and parsley, and season with salt. Sautéed cardoncelli make an excellent winter side dish and pair very well with roasts and other meat dishes: try them with roast beef and a good red wine from Puglia.

Cardoncelli with lamb

We end this short but tasty round-up with a typical Apulian dish of disarming simplicity. You need:

• 600 g of lamb
• 500 g of lampascioni, the small bitter wild bulbs that Apulians love, already cleaned and boiled
• 500 g of potatoes
• 500 g of cardoncelli
• a little white wine

1. Grease a baking tin and arrange everything neatly in layers. The lampascioni must already be cleaned and boiled; the potatoes can go in raw, because the dish bakes for an hour.
2. Pour over a little white wine.
3. Do not overdo the heat: one hour at 180°C is perfect. Cover with foil if needed.

There are many more cardoncelli recipes. Soups and fresh pasta are excellent too (tria with cardoncelli, a ribbon pasta, is delicious), and the mushrooms are worth trying with fish as well.