Pickled Mushrooms

November 28, 2000

The weekend before last we visited the lower North Island wine district of Martinborough for the annual Toast Martinborough festival.

The festival has been running for several years now and each year about 10,000 people flock to the small rural town to do the rounds of participating vineyards. Shuttle buses run between vineyards where visitors can purchase a "taste" or a whole glass of the various wines featured. Each venue features great food cooked up by a leading restaurant, and there's plenty of musical entertainment along the way.

This years there were 12 sites operating. Some people try to visit each one. We were content to go to about half. It's a very social occasion and we kept meeting up with friends from Wellington, the nearest large city.

We've been to the festival every year since it started. I enjoyed it so much the first year, I suggested to my then boss that we should use the festival as our major entertainment for corporate clients and contacts and so, until this year it has been my lot to organise getting 40 to 50 people to the festival and back. Fortunately special trains run from Wellington to the Wairarapa district where Martinborough it situated, so the logistics aren't too daunting. And once we had our guests there, after a little bubbly and breakfast on the train trip, they were usually content to do their own thing till home time.

This year, I went along as a guest and it was a pleasure to be able to relax for the whole day although I did get a bit of flak for failing to mention in my briefing instructions how I had previously organised fine weather for the day. Unfortunately we got a mixed bag - sun, an occasional shower, a couple of heavy downpours, even hail at one stage. It did nothing to dampen anyone's enthusiasm as they hudddled in food marquees or sheltered under umbrellas.

I'll mention a few of the food offerings from various vineyards to give an indication of what sort of food festival fare Kiwi chefs are cooking up these days:

Wild venison and forest mushroom pie, ostrich fillet on pumpkin bread with spicy plum sauce, oysters with balsamic vinegar and lemon infused olive oil, West Coast whitebait fritters with asparagus and hollandaise sauce, confit of corn fed chicken with sweet potato salad and cherry relish, mushroom kebabs, whitebait muffins with homemade herb mayo, skillet roasted mussels with rosemary and citrus butter.

For those with a sweet tooth, desserts included caramelised lemon tart with fresh strawberries and double cream, biscotti, panforte, florentines, chocolate-dipped strawberries, cherry clafoutis with lemon marscapone. And other places offered selected cheese.

After a day among the vines, sampling sometimes rather rich fare, the body starts looking for something simple the next day - grilled chicken and a little tossed salad. The Wairarapa province where the wine festival was held is also home to Parkvale Mushrooms so with mushrooms on my mind, I picked up some fine brown button ones at a local vegetable market the other day and made a bowl of pickled mushrooms to serve on the side.

This is a good dish to make if you are taking a contribution to a barbecue or Christmas function. You can make it with white button mushrooms, but the brown variety seem to have a little more flavour.

Pickled Mushrooms

1kg button mushrooms
4 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pickled green peppercorns

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp towel to ensure they are clean. Place in a large pot with the other ingredients, bring top the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Drain into a bowl, keeping the cooking liquid. Bring the liquid to the boil and reduce to about 1/2 cup to concentrate the flavours. Pour over the mushrooms and refrigerate until required, letting them return to room temperature before serving. Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley.