While walking Siena in the woods, I spotted a few porcini (herkkutatti in Finnish) mushrooms that I couldn’t just leave there on the side of the road. I nipped them from the bud and carried them back to the car to show my husband, who was busy chopping wood on our lot of land. Back home, I decided to make a little snack from the porcini, which I’m sure I have shared with you all many times already. The weather was crispy but warm, so I decided to enjoy it on the warm of the balcony, while washing windows at the same time. I’ve noticed that the vines are starting to change colour on our balcony, the cold air makes them turn a more saturated hue. They are starting to have shades of red in them, giving them an autumnal coating. A lot of our tomatoes are ripe and our paprika is growing at a constant speed.

Back to the porcini dish: so, all you need to do is basically fry slices of the mushroom on a hot pan with a dollop of butter and fresh sage leaves. Let the slices crisp and turn golden and lastly, add some salt and black pepper and a few droplets of capers. Voilà! I can tell you; it is one of the most delicious autumn treats, simple and elegant.  You can scoop the butter flavorings with a slice of robust bread as the butter is one of the best parts of the dish. I love the aromatic flavor of sage, I find it works beautifully with the earthy porcini.