Mushrooms
The professional mushroom pickers call this time of year Winter Pick. It's a time of abundance here in Northern California, a time when you can conceivably come home with 20 different kinds of edible mushrooms. It's my favorite time of year.
Venison
Caramelized onions make any dish they appear in better. This recipe is no exception: Big venison steaks, onions and seared hen-of-the-woods mushrooms are autumn on a plate.
Mushrooms
If Porcini are the kings of the mushroom world, chanterelles are its queen. There are several varieties of chanterelle, ranging…
Mushrooms
For most of the world, porcini mushrooms are a feature of fall. But here in the West, we also get spring and even summer porcini. In fact, the biggest flush I deal with are right now, as spring fades into summer. To do justice to these mushrooms, we cannot look to Europe. We must develop our own porcini cuisine.
Foraging
“Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.”ย That may be the most famous quote fromย the father of modern…
Foraging
Morel hunting the way I do it is a lonely affair. Miles walked in a beaten, burned landscape. A morel here, a morel there. It's not the bonanza of a big burn, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Recipe
Who doesn't love pierogi? I mean really. Little pockets of goodness, boiled briefly then fried and served with caramelized onions, sour cream and dill? Heaven on a plate. I made these with wild mushrooms, but any mushroom will do.
Mushrooms
One of the greatest prizes in all of mushrooming, the cauliflower mushroom is both elusive and mesmerizing. It is the ultimate soup mushroom. Here's how to find and eat it.
Pasta, Risotto, Gnocchi
This might be the prettiest - and best-tasting - dish I've made this spring. You can really taste the ramps in the pasta, and the morels, cooked simply with ramps, butter and a little stock, compliment the pasta like sunshine on a pretty girl's eyes.
Fish
Trout with morels, ramps and fiddleheads is a classic combination - all are in season at the same time, and in the same place. Even in the High Sierra, we have our own rendition, with bracken fiddleheads and Sierra wild onions. I call this dish Sierra Spring.
Recipe
I'd always been leery of the Slavic style of salt-pickled mushrooms. But I finally took the plunge and fermented my mushrooms Polish style, and damn but they're good -- especially with some rye bread and lots of vodka...
Mushrooms
No mushroom forms more of a backbone to my cooking than does the humble yellowfoot chanterelle. I will drive great distances in search of it, just so I have enough to get me through the dry months.
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