A while ago at the restaurant I got a wild hair and was craving candy cap mushrooms in some kind of dessert. I’d made ice cream, bread pudding, marshmallow, custard, all the usual things, but I wanted something a little different. I also know that they’re a hard sell in Minneapolis since most people have…
Gilled Mushrooms
Blewits
I think the first question I ever asked on a mushroom discussion forum was something to the tune of: how can I find blewits? Ever since I first read that purple mushrooms existed, and that I could eat them, I needed to find them. In hindsight, there were easier quarries, but who could blame me?…
Honey Mushroom and Beef Runzas / Bierocks
Back at the Salt Cellar there was an older couple that would come in every weekend, the staff and I called them our favorite couple. Salad, split entree, then they’d each have a different scoop of ice cream to share. I loved talking to them in between pushes on Friday or Saturday nights. The man…
Pan Roasted Honey Mushrooms
A couple years ago I shared a recipe I borrowed from David Arora on cooking honey mushrooms alongside their peeled stems, which is useful when you find a bunch of honeys that have grown to have large or long stems. This past season I ended up finding a number of clusters that were really prime…
Wild Mushroom Tartine with Purslane and Pickled Vegetables
It’s the heart of wild mushroom season in the Midwest, the boom time when you can go to your favorite patch and come home with all sorts of different types. Multiple types of chanterelles, chicken and maybe hen of the woods, Aborted Entoloma, Lactifluus, lobster mushrooms, various black trumpets, coral mushrooms/Ramaria, Hygrophorus, all manner of…
Candy Cap Bavarian Cream
Candy cap bavarian cream was one that I enjoyed teaching my pastry chef to make recently. I’m not a pastry chef, but I’ve been through enough rough spots (pastry chef giving notice and moving back to Naples Italy, pastry chef being neurotic and flaky, pastry chef being unskilled and needing guidance, did I say pastry…
Hunt for the Minnesota Matsutake
I get a lot of messages about mushrooms, as well as pictures and inquiries, both from regular readers and also from the occasional random person. Most of the time, they’re what you would expect: a picture of a nondescript mushroom and a question along the lines of “What is this and can I eat it?” I…
Saffron Milkcaps With Chickpeas, Tomato, and Gran Queso
In Spain, hands down the most famous is the rovellon, or saffron milkcap. This particular recipe I made for the Cascade Mycological society’s cookbook. Chickpeas are popular in Spanish cuisine, and gran queso is a famous, slightly salty cheese from the region. Combining the chickpeas and cheese with a little chopped, peeled tomato, and some…
Lactarius Indigo Vinaigrette
I went through a phase where whenever I found Lactarius indigo growing I tried to come up with preparations that would keep their blue color. This is one of the more interesting ones: a blue mushroom vinaigrette. It’s not the type of vinaigrette you’re going to throw on a salad, since you won’t be able…
Hygrophorus Russula
Here’s another fun mushroom to know, although they look a lot more interesting than they taste. If you haven’t tried them already, keep your eyes peeled for pretty pink Hygrophorus russulas (they really don’t have a common name). If you’re familiar with mushroom hunting, Russula species can be a bear to identify, have their color vary,…
Stuffed Shaggy Parasol Mushrooms
God but I’ve been having fun cooking shaggy parasols. They’re versatile in the kitchen, but like you would expect from most mushrooms, the less you do to them, the better they are. Their caps are wonderfully concave, and just begging to be stuffed with something. The stems are interesting in that they have a different…
“Mousseron” Mushrooms ?
High end wholesalers make plenty of amazing food happen. In the span of a about a day, ingredients from one corner of the country or world can be in the hands of someone else, although the availability comes at a pretty high price. Wild mushrooms are easily sourced through a number of different purveyors, and…
Heirloom Squash Ravioli with Honey Mushrooms and Sage
The past few years have been hit and miss for me with honey mushrooms. Its all about timing, and these guys quickly bolt and get past their prime. If you get lucky though, you can find staggeringly large fruitings. I didn’t come across tons this year, but I did get a few clusters of honeys…