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fungi

Mushroom Potato Leek Soup

Recipe courtesy of CMS Newsletter Recipe

Serves 6 to 8 regular folks, or 4 starving mushroom hunters.

• 2 large leeks-sliced thin or chopped, white part mostly
• 2 small onions, chopped fine
• 1 pound (or less) mushrooms-chopped
• 1 1/2 pound potatoes-diced
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 cup of light cream or
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 3 or 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup chives
• Salt and pepper to taste

preparation

Saute mushrooms in butter until all fluid is absorbed. Set aside. Saute leeks, onions, and potatoes in butter, stirring to prevent burning. Add broth, mushrooms and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes or longer until potatoes are very soft. Mash potatoes with a potato masher or cool the soup and run it through a food processor or blender. If you have cooled the soup, warm it, and add cream. Sprinkle chives on top and serve. It is also good with a little grated cheese sprinkled on top. Serve with bread.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Recipe Courtesy of Pat Patterson

You need large, preferably free-gilled caps for this one. I use Lepiota rachodes, Agaricus arvense or Agaricus augustus by preference. Brush the caps free of debris. Turn over and place on a cookie sheet. Brush the insides with melted butter. Mix together cooked Oregon wild rice, chopped sauteed garlic to taste, finely chopped cooked onion or shallots, salt and pepper to taste. Fill each cap heaping full with this mixture. The extra is an excellent dish for later. Broil until the mushrooms are done, then top with finely shredded cheese of your choice. My preferences in order are gruyere, Jarlberg or sharp cheddar. Broil until the cheese bubbles and serve. If you want, you can add a finely ground meat to the stuffing, but I find that overkill with these fine meaty mushrooms.

Wild Mushroom Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Recipe Courtesy of Eve Rowe

This proportion serves 2; feel free to 2X or 3X recipe for more; a great recipe to spring on guests!

ingredients

• 1/2 cup half/half, light or whipping cream (may be fat free if desired)
• 2 TBSP butter, margarine or olive oil
• 1/2 TBSP dried thyme
• 1 tsp winter savory
• 2 cups (or more) fresh mushrooms OR rehydrated mushrooms, drained
• 1/2 cup grated asiago cheese (parmesan is an okay substitute)
• 4 cloves of crushed garlic pinch salt, pinch pepper to taste

preparation

Heat oil in skillet; when hot, add thyme, garlic and savory, simmering for about three minutes to soak up the spice flavor. Add mushrooms. Saute (covered) about ten minutes, until you get a good juicy sauce in there. Add half/half, allow to bubble and thicken for about three minutes or so. Add asiago cheese, stir occasionally; allow to melt and thicken up to create a sauce consistency. Add salt and pepper (also try nutmeg if you please) to taste if desired; serve over drained pasta. If your consistency is watery, next time try fattier ingredients (heavy cream), or add a teaspoon of flour or cornstarch to the mushrooms after they’ve been sauteed.

Mushroom & Stinging Nettle Soup

Recipe Courtesy of Pat Patterson

Gather young stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) when 6-12? high in the spring or any fresh young tips. Use gloves. Gather Lepiota rachodes or other edible spring mushrooms. Rinse nettles and steam just until limp. Chop nettles and set aside. Clean and chop mushrooms and saute in butter. Be generous with the butter. Add milk or half and half or chicken broth in a large pan. Toss in chopped nettles. Add salt and pepper to taste. This can be served this way, but it is especially luscious when run through the blender and pureed. I often saute chopped onion with the mushrooms also.

Marinated Grilled Mushrooms

Recipe Courtesy of Gerry Wilson

ingredients

• 3/4 C Olive Oil
• 1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 C Chopped Onion
• 1/2 t Black Pepper
• 4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 3 t Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
• 1 t Basil
• 1 t Sea Salt
• 1 t Oregano
• 1/4 t Anise Seed
• Large Capped Mushrooms, stems snapped out

preparation

Mix all ingredients except the mushrooms together and preferably blend to a thick smooth consistency. Coat mushrooms with marinade. Grill, gill side up over moderate fire until marinade in cap bubbles. This also makes a spectacular marinade for other vegetables and lamb.

Wild Mushroom Shepherd’s Pie

Recipe Courtesy of Culinaria Eugenius ~ Epicurean Adventures from Eugene, Oregon

Making a shepherd’s pie is easy.  This old English one-pot supper is basically a layer of juicy ground lamb, fortified with an army of peas, carrots, and onions and a moat of broth all nestled under a topping of mashed potatoes.  The dish is finished in the oven, where the mashed potatoes are browned on top. When you scoop into the pie, the brothy meat juices mix with the potatoes, and you have the most wonderful, comforting dish ever.

• wild mushrooms
• potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, carrots and celery
• ground lamb
• wine
• tomato paste
• chicken broth
• rosemary, salt, pepper, and allspice

preparation

With the local base vegetables I bought at River Bend Farm and Groundwork Organics (potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, carrots and celery), and Cheviot Hill ground lamb, I had a terrific start on this pie. After browning the lamb and onions, I added the rest of the aromatics — carrot, leek, garlic, and celery. When everything looked soft and slightly caramelized, I combined the vegetables with the lamb, added rosemary, a bit of wine and a chunk of tomato paste from the freezer, then loosened the fond from the pan with about a cup and a half or so of chicken broth.

Unsatisfied with pure meat in mah pie, I thought I’d add a layer of earthiness with all the wild mushrooms I had bought — probably about a pound’s worth. Our golden chanterelle season is just about over, but the hedgehogs and candycaps are plentiful. Candycaps add a slight maple-syrupy sweetness to the lamb. (I used about half of the cup or so I bought, and dried the rest for future experiments.) The mushrooms were sautéed in butter and salt, and then layered atop the lamb with their juices.

The rosemary was from my own garden, and I used a heavy hand. Butter and cream were from Noris Dairy, as usual, and the chicken broth was from my freezer, via Draper Valley (not local but nearby in WA). The only thing you really need to remember with shepherd’s pie is that you need the bottom layer to be quite brothy — I think I used two cups total, plus the liquid from the cooking mushrooms, for a standard 9 x 13 glass baking dish. A nice slug of local red wine finished it off. Also not local: a tablespoon of tomato paste, salt, pepper, and allspice.

I served the dish with some steamed local broccoli, simple as can be, and some homebaked chocolate chip cookies. My husband thought he had died and gone to heaven. It was that good.

Chocolate Mushroom Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Myron Cooley

“This recipe is from my mother-in-law, Olive M. Florence, 1906 – 1983. She was the antithesis of all the mother-in-law jokes. She was a helpful friend.”

Cream together:

• 1/2 Cup Oleo
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• Add:
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tsp Almond Extract
• 2 squares Unsweetened Chocolate, melted

Sift and add alternately with 3/4 cup Sour Cream:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt

Add last:

• 1/2 cup fine Macaroon Cookie Crumbs (substitute vanilla wafers)
• 1/2 cup chopped Maraschino Cherries, well drained
• 1 cup fresh Mushrooms, chopped

You can add 1/2 cup chopped nuts if you want Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet, Bake at 350* F for about 12 minutes. Cookies will be almost 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 to 3/4 inch high. This recipe makes 40 to 50 cookies when dough is made into 1 inch balls. Very moist and tender, will keep well. Takes about 1 hour. ENJOY!!

More Wild Mushroom Recipes:

• Wild Mushroom Ragout
• Wild Mushroom Pate
• Amaranth Cakes with Wild Mushrooms
• Wild Mushroom Greek Yogurt Dip
• Setas – Wild Mushroom and Garlic Tapas
• Fried potatoes with wild mushrooms (kartoshka s gribami)

Cascade Mycological Society Wild Mushroom Cookbook

The Cascade Mycological Society Wild Mushroom Cookbook is now available for sale online.

The book features over 184 pages filled with one-of-a-kind recipes, plus anecdotes, tips, and full-color photographs featuring foraged, wild-crafted mushrooms from our geographic region. It is organized by season and contains beautiful color photographs printed on 100# Gloss Book stock with lay-flat spiral binding. The contents are thoroughly and thoughtfully indexed.

All profits from the sale of the book will go towards supporting the CMS grant and scholarship programs. It is dedicated to Freeman Rowe, whose love of learning and teaching the beauty and diversity of fungi has touched so many of us.

Pricing:

$23.50 includes shipping to anywhere in the USA.