There's not mushroom inside...

I say, I say, I say (What you again)
My dustbin's absolutely full with toadstools
(How do you know it's full?)
'Cos there's not mushroom inside...

Lonnie Donegan's 'My Old Man's a Dustman' was probably the first song that I ever learnt off by heart. I'd play it over and over again on the spanking new Dansette record player that my parent's bought from the club book. It was on a long player and I remember Cumberland Gap, Battle of New Orleans, Have a Drink on Me, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour... But it was the dustman song that I remember best, and of course that lousy joke.

Yes, there's not mushroom inside.

Mushrooms are strange things. I love them fried for breakfast, with garlic as a starter, and in an occasional omelette. But when it comes to soup or mushroom flan... Well, I'm not keen.They aren't the most adaptable of edibles.

Yes, beyond fried, sauteed in garlic, folded into eggs, or maybe added to a pie they leave me pretty much cold and I'd love to find a really good recipe that isn't one of the above because, at the moment, we have a glut.

The mushroom season seems to have hit early this year and the field opposite the cottage is full of them. Last weekend our farmer friend dropped off two carrier bags full of the lovely round fungi and after numerous breakfasts of mushrooms on toast, mushroom omelettes, fried mushrooms with bacon, and a couple of garlic mushroom starters I have to admit that I begin to tire of them.

A large carrier bag full of the things still sits in the corner of the room waiting for an inspiration. All I can think of is mushroom soup... And I don't like mushroom soup.

Any ideas?