A Handful of Black Trumpets

I went for a hike, knowing there was a chanterelle patch in the area but really not wanting to find any. I'm done with those for the year (I found two anyway, even though i wasn't looking for them!).  I was really on the hunt for black trumpets. It looked like good terrain for them, I was convinced they were there.

So, like staring at one of those 3D prints with the hidden pictures, I stopped and stared at the hillside. Slowly, these leaf shadows become mushrooms before my eyes. Success!

Unfortunately, I scoured the area and only found a small handful of these black beauties but that's fine by me. I'd rather have a few than none, they are truly one of my favorites.  Nom nom.

And since I had so few and wanted to savor them as much as possible, I sauteed them in just olive oil and shallots and put them atop my Sunday food-church frittata. Sooooo yummy. I also added the two little chanterelles I found just because, what else could I do? I couldn't let them go bad.  I need to head out and find more trumpets, this whet my appetite for them, they are such a wonderful little fungus!

Hardcore FoodPorn Season Continues

I went to a friend's house yesterday and we went for a walk. Found this beautiful, HUGE, bolete and one other she kept...She was gracious enough to let me take this one home. Just so you know, that knife is my 10" chef's knife...that is a huge mushroom!


It was pristine. Not a bug in site. Gorgeous.


We savoured it, it may be the last we get of the season!



We grilled the stalk and sauteed the cap with some garlic and tossed it with farmer's market fresh pasta.



Pork bacon?...pshaw...Turkey bacon? No way! FUNGUS bacon is the way to go!! (grilled until almost crispy...drroooolll)

Chantrelle's Thanksgiving Weekend Continues

As I pointed out in my last article, we were a bit late for porcini season this year. But not so late that we didn't get any at all. We had a couple of beauties! On the first night we didn't have the time or the materials for a barbecue so we just sautéed the porcini in a little olive oil and shallots and tossed it with some farfalle pasta. I'm a big fan of not doing much to the mushrooms and just enjoying their earthy flavors on their own.

Day two however allowed for a trip to the store to pick up some mesquite for the barbecue. This is my favorite way to enjoy porcini. Once it was cleaned up, we just sliced it, basted it with olive oil and herbs and grilled to perfection. Once off the grill we squeezed a little bit of lemon juice and sprinkled a little bit of salt on them. Heaven!




We went back to one of our spots thinking we'd probably struck out but I stumbled upon two pretty little friends. The caps were destined for the dehydrator but the stalks were gorgeous grillers.



Having exhausted the porcini stash, we still had an insane number of chanterelles to consume. Along with Thanksgiving leftovers, we had chanterelles cooked in butter on toast. I felt a bit Top Chef-like serving chanterelles and bread two ways (on toast and in stuffing). ;-)


Day three -- or was it day four -- I decided to venture out into the chanterelle territory again. Who knew I missed a whole patch of them!? I had to think of another way to cook them. I thought, "I wonder if they grill well?" Since it's my favorite way to eat porcini we decided to try it. It is now my favorite way to cook chanterelles too!!

If you have access to any of these lovely golden fungi, you must make this recipe.


Spinach tossed w/ dressing of:
Chopped shallots
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Cook french green lentils in chicken stock w/ a clove of garlic

Slice each chanterelle and half, toss with olive oil and pepper and grill. I used 3 large mushrooms for 2 people.

Chop and cook bacon to make lovely little bacon bits.

Assemble into the most beautiful warm mushroom salad ever created. Spinach first, then lentils, the shroomies, then bacon, then love....love the whole time actually, including with every fabulous bite.

Chantrelle's Thanksgiving Day

We head up to Mendocino every Thanksgiving. We've been going up for about 10 years. The purpose of the trip is to crawl through the woods looking for fungus. Some years it's quite successful. Other years, not so much.

This year we were a bit late for the porcinis. we found a few to grill, and a few to dry, but the real star of this trip was the chanterelle. Day one brought us a basket full along with a couple of coccoras (a mushroom that still makes me nervous to eat!).


I selected a handful of the chanterelles, cleaned and prepped them for wild mushroom stuffing. The recipe I used is based on this Bon Appétit recipe but I've modified it a bit. Firstly, it called for 1 pound of shiitake's and 1 pound of button mushrooms... I had pounds of chanterelles in my fridge! I used about 2-3 pounds of the chanterelles. I put them in the skillet with a stick of butter. I let them cook for quite a while because they had a lot of moisture. I cooked almost all of that moisture away.


Next I added the chopped leek and garlic and let that cook through for about five minutes.

Once the leek was softened I added 2 cups of good white wine, a huge handful of rehydrated porcinis (from last year's hunt) and about 1/4 cup of chopped thyme and marjoram from the garden. At this point I don't think there's much I cook without thyme and marjoram in it! The plants are out of control!!

Once most of the wine had cooked off, I stirred the whole mixture into a 1lb package of bread cubes (unseasoned). I added the liquid I used to rehydrate the porcinis and then some extra chicken stock because it still seemed a little dry. I put the whole bit into a baking dish and baked it at 350° for about 45 minutes until the edges had some yummy crunchy bits.

Meanwhile, I said we found some porcini right? We can't forget about those! We sliced up the stalk, brushed it with some olive oil and grilled it on the Weber with mesquite wood.


Meanwhile meanwhile... I roasted a whole chicken in lieu of a turkey since 1: I'm allergic to turkey and 2: there were only three of us. It's a foolproof excellent way to roast a chicken by the way. Take six pats of butter and wiggle them under the skin of the chicken breasts (three for each side). Then take chopped herbs... guess what I used? Yes, marjoram and thyme! Work those under the skin with the butter. Sprinkle the entire bird with salt and rub the entire outside with olive oil. Roasted at 400° for about 40 minutes until the internal temperature is 160°. I love my digital thermometer for this. I just put it in the chicken when I first put it in the oven, and set the alarm to beep when it hits 155° so I know I have a couple minutes left to finish the rest of the dinner prep.


It was a very successful Thanksgiving endeavor. The final meal: roast chicken, wild mushroom stuffing, grilled porcini, Caesar salad and cranberry relish.