Foraging

Gathering Curly Dock

One of the earliest greens to appear in spring, the various docks -- curly dock and Western dock chief among them -- are easy to identify and taste like a cross between spinach and rhubarb.

Fish

Fish Cakes with Wild Rice

This is my homage to the North Country, where wild rice and pike, walleye and perch are king. These fish cakes are made with pike from Manitoba, but you could use any white fish. Mixed with mustard, herbs and wild rice, they are easy to make and wonderful to eat.

Pheasant, Grouse, Quail

Braised Pheasant with Mushrooms

If you've never braised pheasant thighs, you're missing out. Unlike the drumsticks, which can be fiddly, the thighs on pheasants (and wild turkeys) are sublime when slow cooked. This recipe is based on a French one and uses lots of mushrooms.

Mushrooms

Winter Pick

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.

Recipe

Beer Sauce with Duck

Duck breast. Beer. Wild berries. What's not to love? This is an original recipe very, very loosely inspired by an Icelandic dish that uses beer and malt (or beer) vinegar as the main component in the sauce. It's one of the first times I've used beer this way, and it won't be the last.

Venison

How to Cook a Venison Steak

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.

Foraging

Paw Paw Ice Cream

Paw paws, the Hoosier banana, custard apple or Indiana banana. America's largest native fruit, is indeed a little bit like a banana -- and it makes a great ice cream.

Recipe

Venison Tenderloin with Blueberry Sauce

Pairing venison with fruit is an age-old thing, and blueberry or huckleberries are a particularly good match. This recipe is an Icelandic version that is not sweet at all. The blueberries are balanced with mushrooms and wine to make a really classy yet easy dish.

Recipe

Butternut Cookies

It's nut season all over the country, and one of my favorites is the butternut, a relative of the black walnut. These cookies are by far my favorite way to eat them -- and yes, they are wonderful with black walnuts, too.

Foraging

How to Eat Acorns

Everything you need to know using acorns for food. When to collect, what kind of oaks are best, how to leach out the bitter tannins, how to store the acorns, make acorn flour - and acorn flour pasta.

Foraging

Harvesting Fennel Seeds

It's fennel seed time here in NorCal. We have wild fennel everywhere here, and now is the time -- before the first real rains -- to gather the seeds, which have dried nicely.

Foraging

Exploring California Coffeeberries

First off, did you know that coffee comes from berries? Probably. Now, did you know that there's a California coffeeberry? Probably not. Actually, there are several varieties. And yes, you can make your own coffee from them. And yes, it's really good!