Photo by Holly A. Heyser
Mushrooms are by their very nature mysterious ingredients. Beautiful, strange, slightly scary — in some cases very scary — whole cultures avoid mushrooms out of fear. Obviously I don’t fall into that category.
I’ve yet to meet a mushroom I hated, although those slimy canned things in the mega-mart may qualify. Whether it is the majestic porcini or the simple button mushroom, I love them all. Below are my, as always, idiosyncratic mushroom recipes.
GENERAL MUSHROOM RECIPES
Italian Marinated Mushrooms
This is by far the best way to preserve meaty mushrooms like porcini, chanterelles, or horse mushrooms. It also works with cremini mushrooms from the store.
Polish Salted Mushrooms
An old Polish method of preserving mushrooms (usually saffron milk caps), that makes a great, salty accompaniment to beer, bread… or vodka.
Mushroom Pesto Dolmas
Sauteed, chopped mushrooms mixed with pesto and stuffed in a grape leaf. An awesome appetizer.
Mushroom Empanadas
Sauteed, chopped mushrooms mixed with cooked wild greens (or spinach) and stuffed in pastry. It’s like a Cornish pasty or Spanish empanada.
PORCINI RECIPES
General Tips on Cooking Porcini Mushrooms
Grilled Porcini
Pretty porcini sliced thickly, grilled over a hot fire and served with green onions, lemon zest and preserved garlic.
Porcini Risotto
A kicked up risotto made with both fresh and dried porcini and topped with seared squab or duck.
Porcini Ravioli
Another “porcini double,” as there is porcini powder in the pasta and fresh porcini in the filling.
Raw Porcini Salad
Not for everyone (some people get an upset stomach from raw porcini), but if you can eat them, this is the way to go: Simple with oregano vinaigrette and prosciutto.
Porcini Sugo with Barley Tagliatelle
A classic Italian dish, porcini pasta sauce with a barley pasta.
CHANTERELLE RECIPES
Chanterelles with Pumpkin Spaetzle
A gorgeous autumn dish with fresh chanterelles, homemade spaetzle, pine nuts and garlic.
Jaegerschnitzel with Chanterelles
Called pfifferling in German, chanterelles are the best mushroom for making jaegerschnitzel.
Indentifying and Cooking with Yellowfoot Chanterelles
Learn about this lesser-known chanterelle and you’ll covet them as much as regular ones.
MOREL MUSHROOMS
Morel Risotto
I made this dish every spring. Morels, like most mushrooms, are perfect for an Italian risotto.
Salad of Morels, Fiddleheads and Ramps
There is a reason these ingredients are so good together. They just work.
Morel Ragout with Trout
Morels, wild onions and bracken fiddleheads served with simply seared trout or salmon.
Venison-Morel Burgers
Again, the pairing of morels with venison, this time I use dried morel powder in the burger mix and then saute morels for on top of the burger. It’s pretty awesome.
BLACK TRUMPET MUSHROOMS
Wild Mushrooms with Parsley Sauce
A trio of winter mushrooms: Black trumpets, hedgehogs and yellowfoot mushrooms, served with a parsley sauce.
OTHER MUSHROOM RECIPES
Classic Button Mushrooms Provencale
This is right out of the bible of French haute cuisine, Escoffier’s “Le Guide Culinaire.” Wild meadow mushrooms, sauteed with garlic, olive oil, lemon and parsley.
Mushroom ‘Potatoes’
King trumpet mushrooms (which are store-bought, not wild) sliced and sauteed in spiced butter. They look exactly like fried potatoes.
Matsutake Gohan
One of the most classic matsutake mushroom recipes there is – it’s a deceptively simple Japanese rice dish.
Hens and Chicks
My play on words: It’s a dish of both hen of the woods and chicken of the woods mushrooms.
Sichuan Stir Fry Puffballs
Puffballs are kinda like tofu, so why not make a classic spicy tofu dish — ma po tofu — using puffballs instead of tofu?
Mushrooms with Pheasant, Cream and Brandy
This recipe showcases the pretty lilac-colored blewit mushroom, but you can use regular button mushrooms, too. And you can use chicken instead of pheasant.
White Truffle Risotto
A classic dish from Alba, in Italy. Only I use wild Oregon white truffles. So decadent. So good.
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