We kicked off the mushrooming season this past weekend and were rewarded with a basketful of platterfuls. We were a little disappointed not to find a greater variety of mushrooms, but there was certainly no shortage of platterfuls! We found them fruiting on rotten logs throughout the woods. Maynar seemed to enjoy his first mushrooming expedition.
Our favourite mushroom guidebook focuses on edible mushrooms. It includes descriptions and pictures of the tastiest species, and how to distinguish them from similar-looking mushrooms that are less tasty (or worse) -- so it gives us a great deal of confidence in identifying which mushrooms to eat and which to avoid. It also includes anecdotes of the authors' mushrooming forays (my favorite part) and recipes (from which Mick drew inspiration).
After cleaning the mushrooms (and inspecting them for bugs), Mick chopped them, along with some onions, and cooked them with butter, milk, and herbs (salt, pepper, fresh thyme, and dried bayberry leaf, if I remember correctly) to make a gravy.
He added some fresh chopped chives.
And served it up over fettuccine.
It was delicious! We enjoy mushrooming because it can be very rewarding foraging -- we commonly harvest a substantial amount of meaty food. And I love the excuse to roam through the woods! (particularly on hot days, like this past weekend, when it's really too hot to want to work) We look forward to more excursions this summer!
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