his is a recipe Didi and I made up (mostly Didi!) when given an enormous bag of freshly foraged Trompette de la Mort mushrooms. It’s wonderful as a starter, but could easily be a full meal when paired with a nice salad. Any mushrooms will do, but wild mushrooms do seem to really make this. If you can’t be bothered to make the béchamel, it’s fine without.

David’s original post for Mushroom Tart with White Truffle Salt. The white truffle is unique to Italy. Alba, in particular, is reputed to have the best of the “White Gold.” In Provence, the black truffle is typically found in the cooler, wetter months from November to early March.

If ever there was a great recipe to exploit and highlight the season’s best offerings of mushrooms, there is none better than this one. A light and cool vegetable bouillabaisse teeming with the bountiful delights of fresh local mushrooms garnished with a creamy rouille.

As the weather gets cooler, my go-to dinner is often a hearty soup and a winter salad. Sturdy vegetables available in the late fall and winter such as squash, root vegetables, broccoli and cauliflower often combined with dried legumes and mushrooms lend themselves to a slow simmer on the stove top. Making soup is a satisfying Sunday afternoon activity.