I haven’t been posting as often as I typically would due to my addiction; FORAGING FOR MUSHROOMS. I am obsessed to the point that a friend calls me “Chronic” This has been a great season so far and I’ve been getting out as often as 4 days a week. I’d likely go 7 days a week but life’s responsibilities don’t let me. One thing about this affliction is what to do with all the mushies once I get them home? To date I’ve made soup ( See my earlier post this year “A Forager’s Fantasy Island”. If We Were an Island), pizzas, a cream sauce to accompany steak, omelettes, stock and I’ve dehydrated several pounds (Xmas presents for other food obsessed family and friends). Alas we’re nearing the end of what has been the best season I’ve known for Golden chanterelles since I started foraging. But there should be a few yet plus the Winter Chanterelles are up as are the Pines and many others. Here are some ideas as to what you can do with the Chanties though..

So very many things you can do here. I bought a crust from the supermarket and added pancetta, roasted garlic, raw onions, black olives, Gruyere and miniature Bocconcini and then drizzled quality olive oil on top. The crust will never be as good as what you’ll get at the restaurant focused on making pizza but one like this would likely cost quite a few bucks with these ingredients. These were all things I had from other meals I was making. Hence why doing this at home has so many options.

Creamy Chanterelle Sauce 

This was adapted from a recipe by the Daringgourmet.com to accompany grilled steak. We did in fact have it with Beef Tenderloin and it was outstanding. But it would also work very well with chicken or pork.

• Ingredients
• 6 oz chanterelle mushrooms
• 1 tbs butter
• 2 tbs finely minced shallots
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp cracked black peppercorns
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• Fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley for garnish

Method

1. Carefully clean the mushrooms. Dry-fry them in a pan until most of the moisture from mushrooms is cooked out. Set aside.
2. Melt the butter in the pan. Saute the shallots and garlic until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and the mushrooms and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add more heavy cream for a thicker sauce, add more wine for a thinner sauce.
3. Spoon the sauce over the meat, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve immediately.

Chanterelle Stock

This is really more of a recipe for people who forage themselves. It’s rather cost prohibitive as it uses a lot of mushrooms. But for people who’ve picked them, there are always the old ones, soggy ones, mushrooms that grew up through debris making them slightly unsightly or those that you just can’t get fully clean. . This is a great alternative for those with a superb outcome. The stock can be used for risotto, gravy, other soup or sauces. Plus all the residual dirt/ sand or what have you end up at the bottom of the pot which gets strained off at the end. The smell coming from the oven was sublime. Roasting chanterelles created an aroma I can only describe as “Butter Pecan”. At least that’s what I got.

I sourced this recipe Diggingfood.com. I’ll also mention I made a smaller batch so divided down the recipe to equal the weight/ number of mushrooms I had to cook.

Ingredients

• 7 lbs chanterelles
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 small sweet onion with skin on
• 4 green onions
• 8 quarts of water
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Method

• Clean chanterelles. One of the easiest ways to remove dirt and debris from chanterelles is to use a stiff bristled paint brush. Normally when I am cooking or preserving mushrooms I am very thorough with the cleaning process, for this recipe, not at all. I roughly clean them and forget about any missed grit because it will all end up in the bottom of the pot or filtered out.
• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Quarter the onion and cut celery into large pieces.
• Lightly coat all vegetables and mushrooms in olive oil.
• Roast the vegetables and mushrooms in small batches on metal sheet pans at 375°F for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size and moisture content of the mushrooms). It took 3 rounds of 2 sheet pans to get these 7lbs roasted. They should ideally roast until the edges have started to brown and caramelize.

• Clean chanterelles. One of the easiest ways to remove dirt and debris from chanterelles is to use a stiff bristled paint brush. Normally when I am cooking or preserving mushrooms I am very thorough with the cleaning process, for this recipe, not at all. I roughly clean them and forget about any missed grit because it will all end up in the bottom of the pot or filtered out.
• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Quarter the onion and cut celery into large pieces.
• Lightly coat all vegetables and mushrooms in olive oil.
• Roast the vegetables and mushrooms in small batches on metal sheet pans at 375°F for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size and moisture content of the mushrooms). It took 3 rounds of 2 sheet pans to get these 7lbs roasted. They should ideally roast until the edges have started to brown and caramelize.
• Taste the stock and salt as desired but do not over salt. Cooking stock should add flavor but not saltiness to your dishes.  Bring it back up to a very low simmer. Once again, do not boil.  You can continue to simmer the stock and reduce it if you wish for stronger richer flavors. But,  what you should have at this point is richer and more delicious than any readily available store-bought cooking stock.