|
FrontRangeLiving.com -> Cooking -> Colorado Wild Mushrooms
 HUNTING THE WILD MUSHROOM
By Niki Hayden
With shiitake, oyster, woodear and portobello mushrooms in the stores, it’s hard to judge the
difference between a wild and cultivated mushroom. Here's the definition: wild
mushrooms must be collected from the forest and cannot be cultivated on a
mushroom farm. The exquisite, tender chanterelles or the robust, meaty boletus
rarely are found fresh in stores. They're discovered in the mountains of Colorado.
 The
rest of this story is now contained in "Colorado
Outdoor Lover's Guide" by
Front Range Living and Fulcrum Publishing. It can be purchased through www.fulcrum-books.com
or at bookstores, such as: www.tatteredcover.com,
www.barnesandnoble.com,
www.borders.com
or www.amazon.com.
Duxelle
This is a classic preparation that’s good for button mushrooms. Christine
Stamm suggests that you prepare a duxelle and then refrigerate it in ice cube
trays. You can add the small duxelle cubes to lasagna, soup, stews or sauces.
- ½ pound of cultivated button mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 2 shallots, minced
- cream, to taste, optional
In a heavy skillet, sauté the mushrooms, oil or butter and shallots. Allow
the mixture to "sweat" so that by slow cooking the mushrooms begin to
give off their water. Add cream just to bring the mixture to a consistency that
looks easy to work with. Freeze in ice cube trays.
Wild Mushroom Soup
- ½ pound chanterelles or other wild mushrooms
- ½ pound of boletus or other wild mushrooms
- ½ pound of cultivated button mushrooms.
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 shallots, chopped finely
- ¼ cup white wine
- 1 quart skim milk
- sprig of fresh thyme
- 1 clove garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
Sauté the oil, mushrooms and shallots slowly, allowing them to sweat and give
off their water. Add the wine and simmer. Add the thyme, milk, salt and pepper.
Blend all together in a blender or food processor.
Mushroom Lasagna
- 6 sheets lasagna noodles
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds mushrooms, can be mixed wild and cultivated
- 4 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- ½ cup parsley
- 16 oz. ricotta, half skim is fine
- 1 cup grated Parmagiano Reggiano or Asiago cheese
- ½ cup heavy cream
Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Cook lasagna noodles according to
directions. Set aside. Slice mushrooms and sauté in the olive oil, parsley and
garlic until the mushrooms are limp and have evaporated their juices. Layer lasagna
noodles, ricotta, mushrooms for two layers. Place the last two lasagna strips on the top layer. Pour the cream over and sprinkle with the grated
cheese. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbling and the
casserole is cooked through. Serves 6.
Mushroom Risotto
This recipe is adapted from the basic risotto that is taught at
the Cookstreet Cooking School in Denver.
Yield: 8 servings
-
4 ounces of mushrooms
-
1 tablespoon olive oil for the mushrooms
-
4 tablespoons olive oil for the rice
-
2 shallots, finely diced to the size of the rice
-
1 cup Carnaroli rice
-
¾ cup white wine
-
4 to 5 cups hot chicken broth
-
½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
-
¼ Pecorino Roman cheese
-
salt, to taste
-
freshly ground pepper, to taste
Heat the oil without browning in a 9 or 10-inch straight-sided skillet (sautoir).
When it is hot, add the mushroom. Allow them to cook slowly on medium to low
heat. When they are soft and limp, set them aside in a bowl. They will not be
added to the risotto until the very end. Heat the 4 tablespoons of oil; add the shallots. Add a pinch of salt, and sauté 1 or 2 minutes
until the shallots soften. Add the rice and toss to coat.
Being careful not to brown the rice, cook it in the butter until the grains,
which are somewhat translucent when uncooked, become opaque. Turn the heat to
high, add the wine, and evaporate it completely. Reduce the heat to low. Add hot
chicken stock by the ladleful to cover the risotto. Allow the broth to evaporate
by half, replenish the liquid, and give a sprinkle of salt. Cook the risotto
slowly, replenishing liquid as needed to the level of the rice, until the rice
is ‘al dente.’ This means that when you test the doneness of a single grain
of rice, you can feel that the outside of the rice is cooked, and that at the
very center there is some resistance. It is better to stop at underdone, as the
risotto continues to cook while you finish it and get it to table. Stir only
occasionally to ensure that risotto is not sticking to the pan. Work with a fork
in order not to break the grains and to cause them to leach starch. To season
properly, coax the flavor along throughout the cooking by adding a small pinch
of salt each time stock is added, and of course taste as you go along.
The finished dish should have distinct grains of rice surrounded by a brothy
sauce. There should be enough sauce so that the liquid is "ondolante,"
or wavy.
Present in soup bowls, garnish generously with Parma cheese, give a grinding
of fresh pepper, and serve hot.
Mushrooms with Citrus Zest
- 8 ounces of mushrooms cleaned and sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- salt and pepper to taste
Sauté the mushrooms in the olive in a heavy skillet. They should be limp and
somewhat caramelized. Add the zest and pour all into a bowl. Allow the mushroom
to steep for at least 10 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
Helpful websites: The Colorado Mycological Society is at www.cmsweb.org
Fungophile sponsors a Telluride mushroom festival each year in August: www.telluride.com/mushroom.html
or contact: Fungophile, Box 480503, Denver, Colorado, 80248-0503
|
