Kernza, a crop being researched by the land institute in the University of Minnesota is a potentially groundbreaking game changing grain. Most grains, like wheat, corn and soy beans, need to be planted as an annual. Kernza is the opposite, a perennial grain that needs no planting, no tilling, and, because of that, actually replenishes…
Hedgehogs
Giant Hedgehog Mushrooms: “Spreaders”
I used to think that hedgehog mushrooms were kind of a novelty here in Minnesota and the Midwest, I would only see a handful here and there where I pick chanterelles but never a ton, maybe a pound on a really good hunt and that’s if I was lucky. Usually they get lumped in with…
Pan Roasted Chicken Breast with Duxelles Sauce
You had a great mushroom hunting season, you crushed the chanterelles, boletes, and all the mushrooms you wanted to get. You made duxelles, and put some in the freezer for a rainy day in the off-season. Great, but now what do you do with the duxelles? Duxelles in stuffings and such is great, but one…
Vegetable Confit with Hedgehog Mushrooms
With the restaurant menu that changes all the time and small amounts of cooler space that might have 20 different people go in them a day, one of the most important functions of my job is the careful organization of coolers, and proper delegation to employees of what I want done with things in order…
Winter Greens With Lentils, Chicken Heart Confit and Hedgehog Mushrooms
As the head of purchasing for the restaurant I have plenty of local purveyors I buy food from but there’s one that stands out from the others. He isn’t technically local, but he might as well be. His name is George Weppler, and in the Twin Cities there’s plenty of restaurants that would like to…
Chanterelle Custard / Pot du Creme
Our chanterelles in the Midwest are delicious, in my opinion much more than the variety that I see coming in from the Pacific Northwest. The P.N.W chanterelle I’m familiar with I suspect to be one cantharellus formosus, it turns brown after pickling, where our chanterelles will stay golden, it’s flavor is also less intense, less…
Fresh Wild Mushroom Duxelles
The one and only mushroom duxelles. This is one of the oldest, most traditional, and especially useful recipes for preserving mushrooms there is along with simply drying, and mushroom catsup/ketchup. At it’s heart its really just a finely chopped, concentrated mushroom base-nothing too crazy. It’s a lot more though. Duxelles is a mother ingredient, one…
Wild Mushroom Conserve
There really is no substitute for fresh mushrooms in everyday cooking, but we can get pretty close. Of course they can always be pickled for long term storage, but there’s another method, almost in between a pickle and a marinade: the almighty conserve. I’ve seen mushroom “conserva” and “conserve” both on the menus of various…
Hedgehog Mushrooms
Hedgehogs are a great all around mushroom. They’re cousins of chanterelles, and to me are a little under appreciated. They seem to get overshadowed by the more widely available golden chanterelles, since they fruit at around the same time. They’re really great though, even easier than chanterelles to identify and a breeze to cook. The…