This Week at Foraged and Found Edibles 10/30

It is a light week at the markets. We are in the lull between the fall and winter flush. Soon there will be an abundance of hedgehogs, yellowfoot chanterelles, black trumpets, and truffles as the nights get chillier. Speaking of cold weather, the watercress has been really beautiful, and will be around until our patches get hit with a frost. Wild watercress tends to be much spicier and more flavorful than the limp bunches found in grocery stores. Try pairing the spicy leaves in a salad with sweet roasted beets and a hazelnut viniagrette.

We have this weekend -

Chanterelles
Hedgehogs - a small amount
Wild Watercress

Rose Hip Harvest Time

bushes and bushes full of hips along the Burke Gilman trail

Small sunset colored globes brighten up the desolate fall landscape every year. Rose hips are the fruit of the rose bush that forms after the blossom dies away. They ripen in fall turning vibrant red to orange colors, and are best harvested after a frost, when slightly soft and wrinkly. Like many other fruits and vegetables of the autumn season, such as parsnips, grapes, and brussel sprouts, cold temperatures help convert their starches to sugars. The conversion is a survival mechanism, sugars help keep the plants from freezing. Rose hips will persist on bushes through out the cold months and if you happen to get lost in the woods they can be eaten as a winter survival food.

The texture and taste of fresh rosehips are moist, bright, and pasty, reminiscent to overripe apples and tangy cranberries to which roses are related. Rose hips are one of the highest plant sources for vitamin C and also contain significant amounts of vitamin D and E, antioxidants, and pectin.

Wild rose bushes grow like weeds all over the city and country, and are easy to find cultivated in many home gardens. Avoid plants in decorative gardens that have been sprayed with pesticides. Rose hips contain many hairy seeds; the fine hairs are said to cause mild intestinal irritation. There are conflicting accounts, but the seeds seem to be best removed unless final preparation is strained through cheesecloth or very fine sieve, though many recipes do not do this. Removing seeds can be a daunting task if your fruits are very ripe. A good way to avoid this hardship is to partially dry fruits for a few days or so and then remove seeds when flesh is firmer.

Tea made with fresh or dried rose hips is one of the most common ways to enjoy this fruit but there are many interesting traditional preparations. Try making a simple rose hip syrup (one more recipe here) for mixed drinks, or as a vitamin C elixir. In Sweden rose hip soup with sour cream or yogurt is a mainstay. You can even buy rose hip soup dry mixes there. Two different recipes for soup are here and here. Combine apples and rosehips for jam, jelly, or fruit leather. Dry sweet large pieces and use as a snack or raisin substitute. I am thinking about making rose hip syrup with honey, dried rose petals to increase the floral notes, and a touch of ginger. I will also dry a bunch to add to my cold weather tea mix with nettles, mint, and elderberries.

Mushroom Recipe Plea Answered

I sent a call out for mushrooms recipes about a month ago. I wanted to hear what was going on in your kitchens, the ways you eat and create.
I had many nice responses but the Lobster Mushroom Bisque really stood out. Lobster mushrooms do have a shellfish aroma and nutty taste that reminiscent of shrimp shells, so it makes perfect sense to make a bisque out of them. I cooked it up a few days ago and ate it with a cheesy grilled fig and proscuitto sandwich, a perfect quick dinner.

creamy orange lobsterness

Naomi Bishop, The GastroGnome, sent in the recipe-

"This is unbelievably tasty...and uses one large lobster mushroom to make a soup that feeds at least 4 people. Simply make a roux using about half a cup of flour, about 6 tablespoons of butter (I didn't measure, so this is my best guess!) You can keep it light, just make sure the flour is all well coated, then add about 2 cups homemade stock (I used turkey, since I'm still working through last thanksgivings bounty) and bring to a boil. Add the mushroom, all cut up, then let it boil for about ten minutes, blend it (I used an immersion blender, so it all stayed in the pot, didn't have to transfer. After blending, I added a small handful of fresh thyme, salt and pepper to taste and a splash of sherry vinegar to lighten it up. This is still a thick and hearty soup, and makes an amazing meal. Sometimes I sautee chanterelles with rosemary and sprinkle on top."

This recipe stood out for its simplicity verses its sophistication. Basically I mean this recipe is fast and easy, but fancy enough for a dinner party, if needed. Her recipe was technically loose so I took it upon myself to measure and play with the ingredients, and come up with a ratio for all of you cooks that like to follow recipes to the T. The only big change I made was to add onion and milk to the liquid ingredients to give it a bit of creaminess.
Thank you Naomi, for your contribution!!


Lobster Mushroom Bisque, Nettletown version

An immersion blender is a must for making this a fast project. I was thinking a nice variation would be a touch of saffron, fennel seeds, celery and lemon to play with the "seafood" theme, instead of the thyme and sherry vinegar. If you try it let me know. I reserved a little bit of diced lobster mushrooms to garnish my soup, though sauteed chanterelles, like Naomi suggests, would be great too.

1 pound lobster mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 sweet onion, diced, about 1 cup
4 cups mild stock- like veggie or poultry
6 Tbsp flour
2 cups whole milk
2 tsp thyme, chopped
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
black pepper or cayenne to taste

Dice a large handful of lobster mushrooms for soup garnish. Over medium high heat heat in a large straight-sided pan, saute diced mushrooms in a 1/2 Tbsp butter until tender and lightly browned. Add a splash of sherry vinegar and a sprinkle of thyme leaves, remove from pan and set aside. Place pan back on heat and saute onion and the remaining lobster mushrooms in 1 1/2 Tbsp butter for about 5-8 minutes, until vegetables begin to sweat. Add stock and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile in a large pot make the roux - heat 4 Tbsp butter over medium heat and stir in flour until incorporated, cook for a few minutes. Slowly add milk in batches, whisking constantly until smooth. Add warmed stock and mushrooms and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until soup thickens and flavors combine. Add thyme, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper or cayenne and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning and serve garnished with sauteed mushrooms.

More inspirations-
Many others sent in recipes (alot of soup!, its that time of year I guess) that all sounded great too, so here are links to a few more bloggers mushroom inspirations-
From the Desk(top)Russell H. Everett - The Sexiest Soup Ever with chicken-of-woods
From Phoo-d - Mushroom "Cappuccino" with Truffle Foam
Cook Local - Wild Mushroom and Fig Risotto

Cider Press at the Corson Building

This is a bit of a late notice but I just made arrangements with The Corson Building to provide recipe calendars for purchase at the Cider Pressing tomorrow. $5 dollars of the calendar proceeds will go to Teen Feed, an organization that provides hot meals to homeless youth.
The Corson is a fabulous place to go for special events, they are always festive and the garden is a great place just to hang out no matter what else is going on. I urge you to check this one out - Press your own cider, eat some delicious food, and get a t-shirt and recipe book! More info on their website journal. Some of these beautiful posters will also be available for purchase.

This Week at Foraged and Found Edibles 10/16

The height of the mushroom season is winding down. The harvest for the weekend is not as plentiful as last. Come early this weekend to get what you want!

We will have at the markets this weekend

Porcini
Chanterelles

probably available only at University District Market
Matsutake
Lobsters

Events, Happenings, Dinners

I am tromping through the (greater) Seattle landscape with wild food calendars in tow, reaching my arms far and wide to spread the good recipe word. I am having a number of calendar happenings in the next few weeks, come one and all to hear the wild food word.

Food- Ins

Cooking Demo at the Puget Sound Mycological Society's Annual Fall Mushroom Show.
I will be demoing this Saturday from noon to 2 pm on Saturday. I will be making the Kashmiri Morel Curry Recipe with dried morels from June in the 2010 calendar, and other mushroom goodies using fresh chanterelles and matsutake.
The exhibit features a fabulous display of hundreds! of mushrooms set up in a natural habitat (think overblown high school science fair). There is also an mushroom art contest gallery, talk by Langdon Cook of Fat of the Land, Mushroom experts to ID your forest finds, mushroom books, t-shirts, etc for sale, and a cooking demo kitchen open the whole time.

Admission- $7 general, $5 students and seniors, 12 years and younger free.
Saturday October 17th - 12noon to 7pm
Sunday October 18th - 10am to 5pm
The Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH), University of Washington
3501 NE 41 Street (Mary Gates Drive)
Seattle, WA 98195

The Corson Building Wild Foods Calendar Dinner - November 16th
Chef Matt Dillon and I will be putting together a four to five course dinner featuring a couple dishes from the calendar and focusing the whole of the menu on seasonal wild mushrooms and other wild foods.

There will be two seatings - 5:30 and 8 pm. Reservation only.
Cost $60 and includes one copy of The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar. Additional copies will be available for the special price of $10.
Make reservations here or call 206-762-3330.

Local Roots Farm Dinner-
All summer Farmers Jason and Siri have been hosting visitors to their farm in Carnation for tours and enjoying a meal featuring the farm's awesome produce cooked by local chefs. The date is not set yet but I will be doing multi-course dinner featuring wild dishes from the calendar and other foods from the farm. Like the Corson dinner it will include a copy of the recipe calendar.
In the summer the dinners are set outside in the middle of the fields, in the fall we head inside to the greenhouse to keep warm and dry. I did a dinner last week that was Asian- themed. A fun challenge to use as much seasonal and local foods for the dinner as possible.

The date will probably be either the Friday 30th of October or Monday the 2nd of November.
Donation- $90 and includes wine and a calendar.
Send Jason an email if you are interested or would like to be on the mailing list - jasonsalvo@earthlink.net.the rustic local roots farm setting

Pan-Roasted Porcini with Bay Leaves

use chopsticks to gently turn mushrooms

This recipe is inspired by Jonathan Julia, many of you may know from the University District Market booth. Jonathon had chef-ed at many great local restaurants, including Lark and the Herbfarm, before Jeremy snagged him to work with us at Foraged and Found. Don't forget to use him as a great resource for recipe ideas. He says this is his favorite way to eat porcini, and he prefers eating the stems to the caps. Browning king boletes brings out their nutty rich flavor and delicious creamy texture too.

Small Porcini ( King Boletes) - stems only or whole
Butter
1 or 2 Bay leaves per mushroom, preferably fresh
Salt and Pepper

Cut mushrooms into thick wedges. Heat a healthy amount of butter with bay leaves over medium high heat in a saute pan that will fit mushrooms in a single layer. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Turn down heat slightly and cook mushrooms turning often until lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Do not over brown or bitter flavors will develop. Serve.

i accidentally had video mode on but I went with it, and it turned out nicely so here it is

This Week at Foraged and Found Edibles 10/9

And featuring ........ Foraged and Found!!

A few local restaurants are taking full advantage of the height of the fall mushroom season-

The Herbfarm is doing their annual Mycologist's Dream Menu from October 16th through 24th.

Art of the Table in Wallingford will be featuring fungi at their Weekend Supper Club - Magical Mushroom Madness October 15th through 17th

Pagliacci's Pizza is doing a Foraged and Found Chanterelle Mushroom and Proscuitto Pizza for a month or so. Available at all locations!

Please support our friends!!

At the market this weekend -

Matsutake
King Boletes (Porcini)
Gold Chanterelles
Lobsters

We have plenty of mushrooms to last through the day at all the markets. Prices are probably the lowest of the season, it will only go up from here.

I will be at the University District Market in the Chef in Residence booth answering all the mushroom cooking questions you can drum up - from 10 am to noon on Saturday.

This Week at Foraged and Found Edibles 10/2

Matsutakes are in!!!

These fine treasures of the fall forest have begun to sprout. Matsutakes, meaning pine mushroom in Japanese, are highly sought after by culinary crusaders. We are lucky to have them growing in abundance in the Northwest, so abundant that much of the annual harvest is actually sent to Japan to feed the foodie frenzy. That is one reason the price stays so high close to home. Another is they are very hard to find hiding in mosses and duff, and often grow on the steepest of hillsides. Why are they so special? Matsutake have a distinct aroma unlike any other mushroom- sweet, cinnamon-y, warm. The traditional matsutake dishes of Japan highlight the preciousness of this mushroom. A frugal but glorious dish is a simple broth with thinly sliced matsutake brought to the table covered and unveiled to reveal the matsutake's lovely hypnotic aroma. Another is matsutake slices quickly grilled over an open flame served simply with lemon or a light soy dipping sauce. Or matsutake gohan - steamed short grain rice with matsutake and light seasonings.

This Weekend at the Farmer's Market

Matsutake
Chanterelles
Porcini- possibly only available at U District Market
Lobsters- also possibly only at U District
Huckleberries

Queen Anne and Thursday Bellevue Markets are closed for the season.
We will continue to be at University District, Ballard, and West Seattle Market through the Fall.