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

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Wilted Amaranth With Garlic, and Summer Wild Mushrooms

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Wilted Amaranth With Summer Mushrooms and GarlicAmaranth is such a great plant. Like most of my favorite greens, the majority of people are probably just going to pull it out of their garden as a weed, and I get that, but if you have some growing you’re doing yourself a disservice not trying it at least once-I guarantee you’ll be hooked. When it’s young, I pluck the tender clusters of greens to add to salads, when It’s older I love to give it a quick wilt, just like spinach.

Amaranth

There’s a number of different types too, you have regular wild amaranth, which will be green, and should be Amaranthus retroflexus if I’m not mistaken. My favorite species is burgundy amaranth, which is a brilliant, purple-red color. At the farmer’s markets where I like to shop, the Hmong farmers often sell a hybrid variety of the two that’s both green and red, as you can see in the picture here.

Amaranth reaches it’s braising peak in the middle of summer, right around the time wild mushrooms are really starting to boom. It’s a natural thing to pair them together, and a fun way to combine all of the mushrooms I’ve picked in a day into a single dish when I need to stop hunting mushrooms and start eating them.

On the day I made this I didn’t have a haul of one particular mushroom, I came home with a mix of a couple different species: small bi-color boletes, club fungus, young white pored chicken of the woods, and hygrophorus russula. Be creative and make your own blend, it should be whatever is popping in your area.

Summer Wild Mushrooms

A mix of summer wild mushrooms. Top, L t R: Bi-Color Boletes, Club Fungus, Hygrophorus Russula, White pored Chicken of the Woods.

The greens too don’t even need to be amaranth, they could be a cultivated green like kale, or a blend of something, I really like lamb’s quarter and amaranth mixed together. Think of it as a choose your own adventure dish.

Wilted Amaranth With Summer Mushrooms and Garlic

Wilted Amaranth With Summer Mushrooms and Garlic
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Wilted Amaranth With Garlic, and Summer Wild Mushrooms

Serves 4 as a side dish
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Amaranth, Summer wild mushrooms
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 lb amaranth greens washed and dried
  • 2-4 ounces depending on availability: mixed wild summer mushrooms see picture example above cleaned and trimmed into similar sized pieces
  • Kosher salt to taste, as needed
  • Crushed red pepper to taste, optional
  • 1 large clove garlic sliced as thin as possible
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons dry white wine a splash

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a saute pan or cast iron skillet. When the butter is hot and sizzling, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until lightly browned over medium high heat.
  • Turn the heat on the pan down to low, season the mushrooms to taste with salt, then move the mushrooms to one side of the pan and add the sliced garlic, and cook until lightly golden, stirring occasionally, about 4-5 minutes.
  • Add the pinch of red pepper flake if using, then add the splash of wine to stop the garlic from cooking, add the amaranth and cover the pan to allow it to steam and wilt for a few minutes, keeping the heat on low to prevent the amaranth from browning. Remove the lid and give the greens a good stir with some tongs or a wooden spoon, and put the lid back on for a moment if needed.
  • Taste the greens, adjust the seasoning for salt and pepper and adjust if needed, then transfer to a warm bowl and serve immediately. Sometimes at home I serve wilted greens like this right from the pan too.

Related

Previous Post: « “Last Chance” Cream Of Chanterelle Soup
Next Post: Sauteed Honey Mushroom Caps and Stems »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kathleen Rodgers

    July 8, 2019 at 12:52 pm

    Which club fungus were you using ?

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      July 10, 2019 at 5:08 pm

      Those should be C. pistillaris, I eat them on occasion, they’re not bad at all, at least the ones I’ve tried. Typically growing with oak/hardwoods in MN.

      Reply

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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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