mushroom foraging – Chantrelles and Fresh Pasta

The idea of foraging has always intrigued me.  There are some tasty things out in the woods – wild mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, ramps, wild berries – that you don’t see in the markets and if you do, they’re super expensive. Lovely, tasty things if you know what you’re doing and I caution you – know what you’re doing.  Bad things can happen if you eat the wrong thing.

Having lived in non-fungi friendly areas (the desert, the city – not exactly edible mushroom hotbeds), my mushroom picking experience was limited to a single trip, many years ago, for morels with my uncle in Southern Indiana.  I was excited – morels are expensive and elusive with a unique deep woodsy flavor.  They are difficult to find because they look just like the forest floor – small, brown, moist.  You have to skulk around bent over with a sharp eye and infinite patience.  We spent a good 5 hours traipsing through the woods and found a grand total of 6.  Six mushrooms and I was permanently hunched over like the witch in Hansel & Gretel.  Aaaarrggh.  Our group of 5 ate them in a large shared omelet and though delicious, I wasn’t convinced that I was any good at mushroom hunting.  Especially since I found two of them after stepping on the poor things.  Ooops.

When I received word that the chantrelles were coming in around my aunt’s house, I decided to give it another go.  First of all, I knew that chantrelles are ridiculously easy to find – they’re bright orange.  No hunching over, straining your eyes to catch the smallest of protrusions.  They’re right there – it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.  Even better – they were fresh, plentiful and no one – and I mean NO ONE – else is the slightest bit interested.  We would very likely have whole area to ourselves.

And we did – not another soul in site.  My uncle and I divided up and each hit a good spot.  The chantrelles grew in large clumps and patches and we were careful only to take the freshest ones.  A quick pull and into the bags they went.  In no time at all, we had four Hefty bags, each about 1/3 full.  Damn.

Now then, because these was just too easy and me being who I am, something had to give. I’ve always been one of those who has a hard time passing things up or knowing when to stop.  As I was picking, there was always another good looking patch just a little bit farther up or just over there.  We were in a ravine with the mushrooms growing on the steep slopes.  It had rained the day before so the ground was wet and a bit muddy.  You know what’s coming right?

ready for picking

As I tried to work my way up to a higher spot on the slope I lost my balance and slid the whole way down.  From the top to the bottom in 3 seconds flat, on my butt holding the bag of ‘shrooms high over my head to protect them.  Being who I am, my first response was not to save myself but save the mushrooms. I, on the other hand, did not fare so well.  I was covered in mud and torqued my good knee in the process. Fantastic. Just wonderful.

I sat there for a few seconds, stunned, arms extended overhead assessing the situation. Mushrooms intact: excellent.  Uncomfortably wet muddy butt: not so good.  Left knee (the good one) hurts: really really not good.  I sat there a little stunned, envisioning another knee surgery less than a year after the last one.  Crap, what will my insurance cover?  If I wait, will it be considered a pre-existing condition? Did I seriously just hurt my knee mushroom picking?  Who does that?  I need a better story. What do I tell my surgeon, the Knee Whisperer?  Wonder if he offers a special – 2-for-1 within 12 months?  What if I can’t walk on it now?  Can my uncle carry me and the mushrooms out? Leave the girl, take the mushrooms? Did I have any vicodin leftover from the last surgery? Did I save my crutches? It would really stink to have to buy another set since I never really figured out how to use them the first time.

a nice bunch

After a few minutes of completely absurd thoughts like this running the gamut from ice packs to amputation, I stood up.  Oh.  It feels OK.  Sore but it’ll be just fine with some ice and elevation.  I decided to call it a day before I really hurt myself.  Or was committed.  We had more than enough mushrooms and I was muddy, tired, hungry and perhaps just a little bit nuts.

Back home, my uncle and I discussed what to eat for lunch. Why chantrelles of course!  We decided to saute them with some pasta and on a whim, I thought that fresh pasta would do these beauties justice.  Given the quality of the mushrooms, dried Creamette pasta just didn’t seem worthy.  I’ve made fresh pasta quite a bit but always with a machine so I thought, what the hell, let’s do this by hand.  I know how to do this (in theory, right?)  Can’t be that hard and you know what?  It wasn’t.

I made a pile of 2 cups of flour (1 cup for each person) with a well in the center, cracked 2 eggs and some salt in that well and kneaded it together until smooth.  It was a little on the dry side so I had to add a little water to make it smooth.  After resting 15 minutes, I divided the dough into quarters and rolled each piece thin.  Rolled that into a cigar and cut into thin ribbons, about fettuccine size.  I gave the stands a toss and set them aside while I cooked the mushrooms and brought a pot of salted water to boil.  I sliced the chantrelles, sauteed them in a little olive oil and butter with garlic, fresh thyme, a pinch of salt and pepper and some white wine.  Cooked the pasta for just a few minutes and tossed it with the mushroom mixture in a large bowl with a little parmesan.  It was a helluva good lunch.  Stunning.

The pasta took a little elbow grease but wasn’t all together difficult.  Certainly more effort than using a food processor and pasta machine but I also didn’t have any pesky equipment to wash or put away. Christ, Italian grandmothers have been doing it like these for generations.  I think too often we forget that to cook good food, you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment.  Just a desire.  Anyone can do it.

The results were wonderfully delicious. There was something about the toothsome texture of the fresh pasta that complemented and did justice to the sauteed chantrelles. We just sat there eating in silence, completely content.

sauteed chantrelles and fresh pasta

SAUTEED CHANTRELLES WITH FRESH FETTUCCINE
serves 4
I didn’t really follow a recipe, per se, for this dish but I’ll give an outline as best I can.  You’ll see in the photo that I threw in some corn kernels that were leftover from the night before.  It was a delicious addition as the sweetness of the corn really enhanced the earthiness of the chantrelles but you don’t have to add it.  This would be great with any mushrooms – I don’t expect you have a bounty of fresh chantrelles growing in your backyard either.  I also winged the pasta – just flour, salt and eggs in rough quantities as I mentioned – but the link below to a Mario Batali recipe would work well.

1 ½ lbs fresh chantrelles or any combination of wild or domestic mushrooms
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 stems fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems, stems discarded
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio
optional:  kernels from 2 ears of cooked corn

1 lb fresh pasta
parmesan to taste

1. Clean any dirt off the mushrooms with a pastry brush if needed (especially true for wild mushrooms.) Slice the mushrooms and set aside.
2. Heat a heavy sauté pan over medium high; add the olive oil and the butter.
3. Add the mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 4-5 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and corn if using.  Stir to combine then add the wine and simmer until liquid is reduced – about 5 minutes.
5. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
6. Toss with hot fresh pasta and freshly grated parmesan.