Black Trumpets and True Chanterelles

 

Mushrooms hadn't really crossed my mind so far this year. Well, not since morel season (which we missed) anyway - we didn't go back to the place we found them last year, but G's family go there every year on Memorial Day weekend so I wanted him to check for them again (he didn't go either in the end)...

Anyway, coincidentally we went for a walk with M+G last weekend in Western Mass - similar kind of location to the morel find. Was all very unplanned - we found ourselves heading up Little Monadnock (hang on, actually that's in NH - just over the state line). And, right next to the lookout, I found a patch of black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides)! We'd eaten these once before with C+J, but never found them ourselves. Small and literally-named (they really are trumpet-shaped, and black); easy to pass by as they are well-camouflaged on the ground. They smell incredible - very rich, almost truffley. I picked them into S's hat, then kept plunging my face in there to inhale that heady aroma all the rest of our walk. We snacked on plentiful wild blueberries. On the way down we spotted a few chanterelles and added them to the hat - much easier to see than the trumpets owing to their large size and bright orange colour, but not growing in such a big group. After the walk we went to find a quarry to swim in, and on the way up to the quarry and the way back down we came across more chanterelles - we even found some right on the bank of the quarry! So, now we had one hatful of frilly orange mushrooms, and another hat full of delicate, velvety black ones.

When we got back we consulted our books, to be sure of identification (both these species are really distinctive so there wasn't much of a question), and for tips on cooking. We had a good amount of both kinds of mushroom, so we decided to just saute them (after a good clean - the trumpets especially can hide all sorts of bugs and leaves and dirt down inside their holes) together with a smidge of garlic, finish off with butter, salt and pepper, and see how that went. Trumpets have a stronger flavour than chanterelles - complementary though, and not overwhelming. But trumpets also tend to collapse into little floppy black blobs, while chanterelles are more robust and hold their shape and texture better. So they made a good team. The trumpets especially seemed to release a lot of liquid, and by the time it cooked off the mushrooms were quite shrunken. We tossed the saute through spätzle (the bought kind, through laziness), and it made a simple but excellent dinner.

Note: these were true chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius): larger, more robust and more brightly orange than the related Winter Chanterelles (Craterellus tubaeformis) we found previously. Similar in taste, but the true chanterelles are firmer and hold their shape better when cooked - the Winter Chanterelles are almost like a hybrid between true chanterelles and black trumpets in texture and appearance.

Mushrooms and sesame tofu

We tried sesame tofu for the first time at Journeyman (our new favourite fancy Greater Boston restaurant). I am not sure if their sesame tofu is quite the same stuff, but I found three different types of gomadofu (Japanese sesame 'tofu') at Ebisuya. The Japanese sesame tofu turns out to be tofu in name and consistency only: it is not made by coagulation of 'milk'; rather by making sesame paste set into a tofu-like block using kudzu starch. So it is basically jellified tahini. I really like it: it has that earthy, tahini taste in a smooth, refreshing, tofu-like texture. We tried black and beige versions.

First we ate some simply: in small cubes with a smear of wasabi on top / in a puddle of good-quality soy sauce, as a side with sushi. And it was good.

Last night I was making spätzle (with the last two wonderful eggs from S's chickens in Roslindale), and decided it would go well with mushrooms and sesame tofu. It did, it went great.

(serves two, in combination with one quantity of spätzle)

1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
~12 mushrooms, cleaned and chopped into ~7mm dice
1 tbsp chanterelle powder
1 tsp mediterranean herb mix (mostly thyme+oregano)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp mushroom soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
salt+pepper
1 small block of beige sesame tofu, coarsely grated
toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and fry for a few minutes until softened. Add the diced mushrooms, chanterelle powder, nutmeg and herb mix and fry until the mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed most of it. Add the soy sauce and mirin and fry for a minute or so longer until everything melds. Taste for seasoning and add salt+pepper to taste. To serve, put some spätzle into an individual bowl, add mushrooms, and then sprinkle with grated sesame tofu and sesame seeds (if using).


This would also work with fresh pasta or gnocchi (although I do like the egginess of spätzle with the mushrooms and sesame tofu).

Chicken of the Woods (+spätzle)

We went mushroom hunting a month or so ago at Breakheart Reservation, with our friends Carly and Jason.  We found lots of mushrooms on that trip - including black spiky boletes and one large frilly mushroom we got particularly excited about, thinking it might be Hen of the Woods (Maitake). When we got home and looked more carefully at the identification guides we decided that it was actually probably a Berkeley's Polypore and supposed to be way less tasty, so we didn't end up eating it. Even so, we were all very enthused about more mushroom hunts soon...

Black spiky bolete aka Old Man of the Woods
aka Strobilomyces floccopus (photos by Carly)

Berkeley's Polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi)

S+I were thinking of going to a party in a cabin in the woods with C+J on Friday night, but Seb's mum is in town right now and we ended up doing some more Boston-y tourist-suitable stuff.  But while we were down in Rhode Island on Saturday I got a text from Carly saying they'd found masses of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus: this is different from Hen of the Woods, and is supposed to have the taste and texture of chicken) on a night hike near the cabin and did we want to come help them eat it?  Ohhhhhh yes!

The mushroom was indeed huge, and beautiful: red-orange on top and creamy coloured underneath, and quite thick and substantial. They cleaned it and chopped it into chunky pieces, then fried it in olive oil / butter, with onions and salt and pepper. We ate it with spätzle: Seb was able to show off his authentic Swabian spätzle-making skills (while teasing his mother about her never having made it before despite being a 'Schwäbische Hausfrau', sort of).

The spätzle came out really well, so I thought I'd make a note of the dough recipe we used - since I have some eggs at the moment perhaps a repeat effort could be a good idea?!

(quantities below make enough for two people)

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together flour, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Beat eggs well, and add alternately with the milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Rest in the fridge for an hour or so (not essential).

When ready to cook, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Spread about a ladleful of spätzle dough thinly on a smooth chopping board, then hold it over the water and use a large knife with a flat, smooth blade to scrape off the dough, making small, slim worms of spätzle fall into the water. Watch each batch rise to the water's surface then cook for a minute or two while floating, then fish them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a colander. Keep the cooked spätzle warm and repeat with the remaining dough until it is all done.

Finally, either toss or saute the spätzle in olive oil or butter, and optionally garnish with parsley.

                                  (Video of spätzle forming technique: Seb on spätzle in front, Jason on chicken of the woods behind)

Spätzle is really simple, but these worked very well so I thought it was worth hanging onto the recipe. I think the egg is relatively important, but it would be easy to make them without dairy (and likely possible to make them without egg, probably using a little raising agent for lightness and some gram flour for eggy taste and colour).

The mushroom was wonderful - really substantial, with a dense, almost dry texture, and a mild taste. It really was a bit like chicken, taste and texture wise - funny for S to try it as he has never knowingly eaten chicken.

Now I am just wishing I knew where to find more equally awesome, edible mushrooms...

Note: Alvin says that Chicken of the Woods is really best eaten raw.  Not entirely convinced, but now we know that we don't have any adverse reactions to it perhaps next time we can try it (if there is a next time)...