My ex-father-in-law used to say that if he ever put an ad in the wanted pages of the local newspaper he’d call himself ‘Triple B’ (BBB) for bald, beard and bifocals. That has absolutely nothing to do with this recipe but it still makes me chuckle every time I think of it. This meal is my triple B, made with three ingredients I love in winter – blewit mushrooms, bunnies and pasta bows. The three ingredients marry well to make a creamy and saucy pasta. This is the prime time of the year for hunting wild rabbit, as the fields surrounding the old farmhouse are teeming with the pesky beasts. They like to sneak into my veg garden and munch on food I’m trying to grow for my family. So I like to eat them before they eat our food.
In the winter forests, the leaf litter under the oak trees provides prime growing conditions for the spectacularly beautiful wood blewit. The colour underneath these mushrooms is mind-blowing, especially if you find a specimen at that perfect age when the lilac colour is at its peak. But make sure you’ve been taught by an experienced guide before picking and eating wild mushrooms, especially under oak trees, where the death cap likes to grow. That’s a mushroom that will surely ruin a perfectly good day. The wood blewit, on the other hand, is less dangerous, but still must be cooked, as it’s a bit toxic raw.