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Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Cooking wild mushrooms
October 7, 2011.
After you have been so fortunate to find wild edible mushrooms,
you may wonder how to cook them....In fact there are many ways of
cooking wild mushroom and a couple of good books provide recipes that
will satisfy and even delight you appetite. The basic recipes may
vary with the mushrooms, their flavor and their texture. My
intention is to provide you with an easy wild mushrooms recipe.
A basic recipe that works with many mushrooms.
4 mushrooms caps
sliced (I used Agaricus campestris)
2 garlic cloves
2 onions cut in
slices
2 spoons of red
wine
1/2 teaspoon of
brown sugarY
pepper, paprika or
your favorite spices
salt
olive oil
(other optional
ingredients: chives cut in small pieces or green onions, shallots,
liquid honey instead of sugar)
Other mushrooms
that can be cooked with this basic 'mushroom recipe' are morels, wine
mushrooms, portobello, and chanterelle mushrooms to mention a
few.
Instructions:
Stir fry the
onions and garlic cloves in olive oil until they are golden. Add the
sugar and mushrooms. Stir the mix and and cook at low heat, after 3
minutes or so, add the red wine and the spices. That is it!
note: if you are
using sugar you need to let it melt to sweeten the dish. If you are
using a variety of onions that turns sweet when it is stir fried then
that could be your sweetener instead of sugar. If you use honey, do
not cook it. At it at the end and only a few drops (perhaps 1/2
teaspoon).
You really don't
need to overcook the muOctober 7, 2011. After you have been so
fortunate to find wild edible mushrooms, you may wonder how
to cook them....In fact there are many ways of cooking wild mushroom
and a couple of good books provide recipes that will satisfy and even
delight you appetite. The basic recipes may vary with the mushrooms,
their flavor and their texture. My intention is to provide you
with an easy wild mushrooms recipe. A basic recipe that works
with many mushrooms.
4 mushrooms caps
sliced (I used Agaricus campestris)
2 garlic cloves
2 onions cut in
slices
2 spoons of red
wine
1/2 teaspoon of
brown sugarY
pepper, paprika or
your favorite spices
salt
olive oil
(other optional
ingredients: chives cut in small pieces or green onions, shallots,
liquid honey instead of sugar)
Other mushrooms
that can be cooked with this basic 'mushroom recipe' are morels, wine
mushrooms, portobello, and chanterelle mushrooms to mention a
few.
Instructions:
Stir fry the
onions and garlic cloves in olive oil until they are golden. Add the
sugar and mushrooms. Stir the mix and and cook at low heat, after 3
minutes or so, add the red wine and the spices. That is it!
note: if you are
using sugar you need to let it melt to sweeten the dish. If you are
using a variety of onions that turns sweet when it is stir fried then
that could be your sweetener instead of sugar. If you use honey, do
not cook it. At it at the end and only a few drops (perhaps 1/2
teaspoon).
You really don't
need to overcook the muOctober 7, 2011. After you have been so
fortunate to find wild edible mushrooms, you may wonder how
to cook them....In fact there are many ways of cooking wild mushroom
and a couple of good books provide recipes that will satisfy and even
delight you appetite. The basic recipes may vary with the mushrooms,
their flavor and their texture. My intention is to provide you
with an easy wild mushrooms recipe. A basic recipe that works
with many mushrooms.
shrooms. Cooking
them a little is good shrooms. Cooking them a little is good to break
down their protective walls and access the nutrients. Eating raw
mushrooms is almost useless because we do not have enzymes for
cellulose or quitina, structural components of mushroom cell walls.
PS.
You can find more wild mushroom recipes and information about edible
mushroom at mycomagnet.com the website of the two of my friends
with whom I have enjoyed foraging for
mushroomsmycomagnet.com http://mycomagnet.com/
Easy pesto recipe from the garden to the plate
I fill a small colander or bowl (dimensions) of basil leaves with their stems. If you are buying at the farmers market that would be two bunches of basil. Before leaving the garden, I planted the end of the stems containing the seeds for the future. Thus, I only took stems with leaves, no flowers or seeds to the kitchen table.
At the kitchen, I washed the stems+ leaves with tap water, and washed my hands...very important for cooks to do this steps particularly when dealing with food that will be eaten fresh or stored raw/non-cook.
Next, separate the leaves from the stems a place them on a separate bowl or directly on a blender. Also mince one garlic (terminology?) and get the olive oil and the cup measure ready. I
I use 2 1/2 cups of olive oil. I add the first cup and about 1/3 of the leaves and press grind. Now add the garlic and grind. Mix.
Add the other 1 1/2 cup of olive oil and the leaves in small increment. At this time the blender will begin to protest and you need to help a little stirring the mix from top with the help of a wooden spoon. Continue the process until you grind all the leaves. This is really the basic pesto. This recipe yields a 300-400 g of plain pesto.
If you want to keep the pesto for a long period of time, you need to add some kind of preservatives. I prefer spices such as pepper and salt.
Specialty pesto:
You can experiment with pesto flavors. The most common additives for enhanced flavors include sea salt, aged Mozzarella cheese, hot peppers, and pine nuts.
At the kitchen, I washed the stems+ leaves with tap water, and washed my hands...very important for cooks to do this steps particularly when dealing with food that will be eaten fresh or stored raw/non-cook.
Next, separate the leaves from the stems a place them on a separate bowl or directly on a blender. Also mince one garlic (terminology?) and get the olive oil and the cup measure ready. I
I use 2 1/2 cups of olive oil. I add the first cup and about 1/3 of the leaves and press grind. Now add the garlic and grind. Mix.
Add the other 1 1/2 cup of olive oil and the leaves in small increment. At this time the blender will begin to protest and you need to help a little stirring the mix from top with the help of a wooden spoon. Continue the process until you grind all the leaves. This is really the basic pesto. This recipe yields a 300-400 g of plain pesto.
If you want to keep the pesto for a long period of time, you need to add some kind of preservatives. I prefer spices such as pepper and salt.
Specialty pesto:
You can experiment with pesto flavors. The most common additives for enhanced flavors include sea salt, aged Mozzarella cheese, hot peppers, and pine nuts.
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