½lb8oz cleaned and trimmed whole white chanterelles (golden chanterelles or hedgehog mushrooms can be substituted)
Kosher saltto taste
4tablespoonGrapeseed or another flavorless oilfor sauteing
2tablespoonunsalted butter
a few smallwhole sprigs of thyme
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a ten inch or equally large saute pan, heat the grapeseed oil until lightly smoking.
Add the chanterelles and cook for 2-3 minutes, making sure not to jostle the pan too much (you want to give them time to bond with the pan, caramelize and brown. When the chanterelles have taken on some light color, add the whole thyme sprigs, stir, and place the pan and in the oven.
Pan roast the chanterelles for 5-6 minutes, or until tender and cooked through. Remove the pan from the oven and put it back on a burner turned to medium-high heat.
Add the butter to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes more, stirring the pan occasionally to perfume the chanterelles with the thyme. Remove the chanterelles from the pan and place on a paper lined plate or platter, sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and serve immediately.
Notes
A simple way to prepare chanterelles. After cooking they would also be at home on top of a steak, a porkchop, or a piece of fish, but you could definitely just eat them straight off of a paper towel, like I did.The technique of adding whole thyme sprigs to the pan is a great one, the herbs are not eaten, but they will flavor things really well. It's a great technique to use if you have a thyme bush outside.