Think eating chicken of the woods is strictly an American thing? The continents separated a long time ago, but we still share many of the same mushrooms, at least as far as culinary purposes are concerned (specific species are another story). Doing research with Jesse for The Wild Harvest show as we planned Episode 3…
Fresh Mushroom Recipes
French Lentils with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms
When I got back from hunting with a bag full of fresh Gyroporus cyanescens, one of the only boletes I prefer fresh to dried, this is what I made. It’s super simple, and just a snapshot of the simple European food I usually cook at home. First you make a soffrito by finely chopping some…
Pheasant Back Fermented Soy Sauce
Prime pheasant back season is usually about over after the spring chicken of the woods pop, but just because they’re big and tough as nails doesn’t mean you can’t do anything with them, and pheasant back shoyu is a great example, especially if you like edible science projects. Shoyu and it’s cousin tamari (soy sauces…
Cooking Wild Mushrooms with the Wet Saute
A while ago a video on cooking mushrooms started circulating in the online community that turned a lot of heads, at least in my world. In a nutshell, the video discussed the benefits in depth (see the video) of adding water to mushrooms before they’re sautéed. At first, I thought l “ok science guy, the…
Gnocchi with Chicken of the Woods Lemon Cream
In the world of wild mushrooms, chicken of the woods is pretty special. It’s striking, bright orange, and easy to ID, sure, but the flavor might the most unique thing about it. I’ve cut large, young chickens off a tree and had them gush orange juice down my arms as I cut–not the average experience…
Burdock Flower Stalk and Mushroom Vegetable Soup
Burdock flower stalks have an interesting, grassy flavor that has a tendency to meld into the background–it’s just not as flavor-forward as the roots. For me, the texture is really where this easily harvested part of the vegetable shines, as it’s tender and takes only a few minutes to cook, where burdock roots take digging,…
Roasted Chicken or Hen of the Woods Stock
One of the best parts about hunting mushrooms (and other things) is that, not only do you get to bear witness to the incredible volume of nature’s bounty, you get to take it home, too, and when the mushroom patch is bumpin, or when the blueberries are fruiting heavy, you’ll find yourself, at the end…
Baked Oyster Mushroom Croutons
At the tail end of morel season, we’ll start to see others coming up, especially if we get some rain in the Midwest like we did last week–it poured, and poured. My favorite are the first flushes of young chicken of the woods that come up, sometimes even while I’m out hunting morels, if I’m…
Braised Burdock and Wild Mushrooms
Ever since I figured out a reasonably efficient way to dig burdock roots, I’ve been eating it every which way. Kinpira was my real breakthrough. Sure, I opened up a restaurant featuring burdock as a local ingredient, but back then I cooked it like a European would, generally with dairy, which is fine, but the…
Andy’s Morel and Ramp Spaghetti
Just about every year I try to get out and hunt a few morels with my old chef, friend and mentor Chef Andy Lilja, former Chef de Cuisine of Heartland, Executive Chef of il Vesco Vino, I Nonni, and many others. We usually try to get permission to hunt some land near Frontenac that reliably…
Basic Pheasant Back Broth
After morel season as we get into summer, the pheasant back / dryad saddle / Cerioporus squamosus will still be out, not in the staggering numbers we see during the height of the late spring season, but still out and plentiful. They’re not spring mushrooms though, and finding tender, succulent ones is far more difficult…
Morels Stuffed with Morel Sauce
Morels stuffed with morel sauce is exactly what it sounds like: pretty much the ultimate stuffed morel, at least to me. One year during the spring hunting season, I ended up feeling gluttonous (and victorious) as I picked morel after morel, and after bringing them home and drying, I found I’d forgotten about the rest…
Nettle Pancakes with Goat Cheese and Wild Mushrooms
Wait, nettle what? Yep, stinging nettle pancakes. Savory pancakes were a vegetarian standby at a couple different restaurants I worked at, and Chef Russell Klein of James Beard nominated Meritage in St. Paul ran a version of them on their menu that often stayed most of the year, changing up the flavors as the seasons…