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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Puffball Mushroom-Cheese Croquettes, With Ramp Ketchup

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cheese stuffed puffball mushrooms with ramp ketchup.

Some cheese escaped from the side, forming a delicious, crusty, salty, cheesy tidbit.

Puffballs stuffed with cheese! Oh baby. There is just something about stuffing food with cheese that’s awesome. I know if I make anything like this orders will come in rapidly, I had better be dug in deeper than an Alabama tick with prepped food. There is just something about oowey-gooey cheese that humans have a natural predilection for, especially for those of us who have even a touch of Wisconsin in their blood.

When the eggplant and tomatoes abound during the summer, I like to make a gluten free ravioli dish using thinly sliced eggplants filled with some sort of stuffing. The eggplants are sliced about 1/4 inch thick, then grilled or roasted. A scoop of a cheese stuffing is placed in the middle, then the edges are brushed with egg to form a seal when they are heated. They are great with any sort of tomato sauce, or a similar preparation.

Here I have used puffball mushrooms to create a similar recipe. Any sort of puffball about the size of a grapefruit or larger can be used here. The recipe is so simple that I hardly need to give you exact proportions for executing it. A picture or two is all you need, which makes this a very approachable and easy thing to make. This is a really great thing to do with those puffballs.

stuffed puffball mushroom recipe

First place some cheese on your puffball slices, leaving a bit of room on the sides.

stuffed puffball mushroom recipe

Next top each sliced puffball and cheese with another puffball slice, then bread and fry, easy peasy.

 

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Cheese Stuffed Puffball Mushrooms, with Ramp Ketchup

Puffball mushrooms stuffed with cheese.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Puffball mushroom

Ingredients

  • Puffball mushrooms
  • A melting cheese of your choice such as: gouda, mozzarella, gruyere, fontina, brie, ect.
  • Panko breadcrumbs
  • Eggs for breading
  • Flour for dredging
  • Cooking oil such as grapeseed, canola, or animal lard
  • Ramp Ketchup for serving see recipe here

Instructions

  • First prepare the puffballs.
  • Peel the outer skin from the puffballs using a vegetable peeler. Inspect the puffballs and make darn sure they are pure white and firm like styrofoam. Cut the puffballs into 1/4-1/2 inch slices (this will depend on how big you would like them). Season the slices lightly with salt and pepper.
  • Next take a few slices of cheese and place them in the center of the puffballs, pressing down on the cheese slices lightly to  imprint their shape and create a bit of a "pocket".
  • Take another slice of puffball and place it on top of the slice with the cheese. Press this down to make a sort of sandwich. These will be even better if you wrap each puffball "sandwich" up tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.
  • Take each puffball sandwich and coat them in flour, then dip them in egg, then in bread crumbs. If any parts are not totally covered with the flour egg and crumbs, you can spot treat them a bit by gently re-dipping the uncoated areas as needed.
  • Heat a cast iron skillet hot with plenty of oil, fry the puffball sandwiches on medium heat, flipping when they are golden brown. If the puffballs soak up all the oil and dry out the pan, add a little more so that they do not burn.
  • When the puffballs are golden brown and heated through, transfer them to a paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve immediately with the ramp ketchup.

More

Puffball Mushrooms

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. J

    September 18, 2019 at 5:56 pm

    I jut tried this recipe and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks!!

    Reply
  2. Julie Gibbons

    October 25, 2021 at 10:51 am

    Can you make these cheese stuffed puff balls ahead of time and freeze for later use?
    I have several puff balls and can’t eat them all but everyone loves the cheese stuffed ones so I figured I would freeze them for winter parties.

    Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      October 25, 2021 at 11:14 am

      Yes you can freeze them, I would cook them directly from frozen so water doesn’t denature the seal.

      Reply

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Alan Bergo
Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of t Milkweed buds are the second-best edible part of the plant, besides the pods in my opinion. They need to be cooked to be edible. 

I only pick from common milkweed in areas where there’s very large colonies. 

I leave some buds to flower on each plant, I also avoid any tops that have insects or monarch caterpillars. Plenty of food to go around. 

#milkweedisafoodplant #foraging #milkweedbuds #asclepiassyriaca
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
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