A Forager's Dream Come True

I've recently moved from SW Montana to the mushroom thick world of Oregon. I've felt somewhat mushroom deprived in Montana, not that we don't have mushrooms but we didn't have the shear varieties of mushrooms out there that the Pacific Northwest has on offer. I've been craving chanterelles for years since moving from Seattle and now I'm in the thick of them.

In Montana I had all the morels and Boletus edulis I could ever want and to some extent, had them all to myself. Now I'm in the holy land so to speak and I have a plethora of wild mushrooms and certainly many are wild gourmet edibles, but I surely don't have them all to myself anymore.

I'm in an adjustment phase as I'm coming from ten years living in Montana, a very dry climate, and now I'm finding myself in a very damp climate and even though the thermometer says it's not cold outside, my body says otherwise. I have awful joints (knees in particular) and this weather is wreaking havock on my body. But, I'm willing to overlook the physical nuisances for the bountiful harvests I've been having every time I go out foraging in the woods.

A Montana Wild Huckleberry Hunt

When August arrives in Montana there is usually only one thing on a foragers mind and that is huckleberries! The best and most prolific area in Montana for picking huckleberries is in the northwestern portion of the state but not much farther south than Flathead Lake although huckleberries can be found all over Montana, this area is the best by far. So, Maggie the wonder dog, my friend Scott and I jumped in the car and headed for them thar hills. You know when you're getting close because the air is permeated with the sweet aroma of ripe huckleberries. Just that sweet smell in the air is enough to get your nose twitching, your tail wagging and a little drool at the corner of your mouth...well,you get my drift... it's pretty darn exciting!


The last time I came up here with Scott, I actually caught Maggie in the act of plucking ripe hucks right off the bushes so I came armed with my video camera to see if I could catch this on video. She wasn't terribly cooperative but I did get just a few seconds of her eating them off the bush before she noticed me shooting footage of her and immediately stopped and walked away! A little camera shy are we Maggie? Or are you worried your four legged friends will think poorly of you eating berries? Huckleberry Hound Either way, there were plenty for all of us to pick and eat and come home with purple fingers and tongues.


I'm trying to decide what will be the first thing I'll do with them. Last time I made ice cream, a cobbler, muffins and froze the rest. This time I'm thinking maybe some jam or syrup? I'm just not sure yet. I didn't pick as many as last time as we got a rather late start this time. Either way, I'll post whatever I decide with a photo!



Notice the different variations of huckleberries in colors and sizes etc.
huckleberry habitat
Maggie eating hucks
Maggie and Scott

see Huckleberry Hound video link above

Picking Boletes... my alltime favorite!

I just love foraging for food and especially picking wild mushrooms. For the last week, my favorite mushroom of all has finally made an appearance in my mountain forests. I've been so patient this year as everything has been two full weeks behind schedule compared to the last several years. My Boletus edulis patch is no exception. I've been going up there and checking my spot since June 30th and going once a week since then and nothing until last Thursday a week ago. Finally, not only were there lots of them, but sadly, there were lots of blown out, old, fully spored and rotting ones.


Not to worry though, now that I've finally figured out how fast they can grow, I've got my finger on the pulse and won't miss any new and fresh emerging mushrooms from now on. I have to say I was amazed that I could go from no mushrooms at all of ANY kind, to full blown spored out mush in just one little week!

We had a little rain the day before I went up a week ago and then when I was there the day after that rain, I had found nothing. Then the following Tuesday, we had one of those crazy monsoon type storms that dumped a ton of rain in a matter of minutes, golf ball sized hail, sideways rain and winds up to 85 mph. When I returned to my spot just two days after that storm, I found all the boletes a person could dream of. So there you go...rain, rain rain = mushrooms!

Just to show you how much fun this is, and give an idea of the type of habitat and what these mushrooms look like, I've made a few little videos.

picking boletes video

porcini video

porcini video 3

porcini video 4

video 5

It's been a great season so far and I still have two weeks more to go! Now if only we could get a little more rain.....

Wild Mushroom and Pecan Paté

This is not my own made up recipe, but it's so delicious I had to share it with everyone.

I made up a version of this last night using what I had on hand. I thawed out some duxelle I had in the freezer of oysters and A campestris, then I added some of those delicious A albolutescens, and a package of chanterelle duxelle I also found in the freezer. I had the cheese and I always have tons of farm fresh eggs since I own chickens, and picked the fresh thyme out of the garden. I ran out of pecans so had to substitute walnuts which I had on hand and the result was excellent. I usually use primarily chanterelles as I love the flavor of them but this is a really good mushroomy flavor that could have been used for ravioli stuffing or little mushroom turnovers or just about anything. When I have tons of chanterelles, I make up a loaf of this, cut it into smaller pieces once cooled and then warp in foil and freeze for use over the winter months. It keeps very well and is equally as good cold as warm. You don't have to make the beurre blanc sauce but when I take it as a dish to a potluck or party, I always include the sauce...that makes it oh so magnifique! Bon appetit!

Wild Mushroom and Pecan Paté

6 cups chopped mushrooms (a mixture of domestic, chanterelles and dried boletes)
1 cup hot water
1 onion minced
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 thyme sprig chopped
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (Emmenthaler)
1 cup ground pecans

NOTE: I chop the mushrooms first in a Cuisinart and then do the onions after.

SAUCE

Reserved mushroom soaking liquid
Reserved mushroom cooking liquid
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup dry sherry, Madeira or dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup unsalted butter chilled

Soak the dried mushrooms in the hot water for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid for the sauce. Discard any tough stems. In a heavy sauté pan or skillet, cook the onion in the butter over low heat until the onion is soft. Add the mushrooms, salt and thyme. Cover, raise the heat, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring several times. Remove from the heat, transfer the mushroom mixture to a strainer and press out as much of the liquid as possible. Reserve the liquid for the sauce. Allow the mushrooms to cool. Mix them with the eggs, cheese and pecans. Add additional salt to taste. Pack into a buttered 9 by 3 inch loaf pan and cover with foil. Place the loaf pan in a larger pan containing boiling water. The water bath should come halfway up the side of the loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour or until the pate is firm and slightly puffed. Allow to set for 20 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the sauce.

Place the mushroom liquids into a heavy, nonreactive pan. Reduce over low heat until syrupy, with only 6 or 7 tablespoons remaining. Cut the cold butter into 8 pieces. Over low heat, stirring constantly, add 1 piece of butter at a time to the liquid mixture. If the sauce seems too tart, add more butter or cream. Unmold the pate and serve with the sauce poured over. The pate may also be served cold. Serves 8-10.

NOTE: I cut this into thick slices and freeze them individually for later use throughout the winter months. If you try to reheat the sauce it most likely will separate so just put it in a warm place to soften.

Stuffed morels

I was holding on to some nice big stuffers for just this use.



I made up a stuffing I use for potstickers using: ground pork, chopped raw shrimp, spring onions, garlic, minced ginger, water chestnuts, and cilantro then bind it with one beaten egg, soy sauce, sesame oil, and oyster flavored sauce and mix it all up and stuff the morels cutting off the stem at the base of the mushroom to make the hole as big as possible. I use a chopstick to make sure the stuffing makes it all the way to the tip of the mushroom. Once they are all stuffed, I place them on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper and place in the freezer until each mushroom is individually frozen and then I transfer them to ziplock freezer bags. When I'm ready to cook them, I preheat the oven to 365 and put them on a sheet pan and straight into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes I drizzle melted butter with garlic over them and bake for an additional 5 minutes and serve. Wow, that's good eating!

Wild Trout With Morel Sauce

Last weekend I went up into the foothills of the Tobacco Root Mountains to a cool little beaver pond that holds tons of nice little pan size trout.


I affectionately refer to this as the "dinner pool" for when I have out of town guests who always seem to ask if we can go catch some trout for dinner. So, I reserve this special spot for just that. So Maggie, the wonder dog and I went up the hill so to speak and caught some nice trout for din din. The flies and ants were driving me nuts so I didn't stay too long, but the fishing, as always was superb. I was armed with my 2 weight fly rod and a box of elk hair caddis which I know they can't resist. There are a lot of little tiny dinkers in these ponds but there are some decent ones too. By decent I mean 10-12" which in my opinion is the perfect size for the pan.



I decided to do the fish in a flour and cornmeal dredge and pan fry them in butter and grapeseed oil. Then I made a creamed morel sauce with madeira and cream to pour over the fish. As a side as if we needed any more fat in our diet, I did a batch of fried morels in a flour and egg dredge and finished off in ...... yes, you guessed it, more butter!




Man, that was good.... now when are those boletes going to start to pop? I'm waiting....... Bon Appetit!

Truffles, Morels and Asparagus, Oh MY!

My little pal Maggie (border collie) and I took a quick road trip from southwest Montana to Oregon this last week for a taste of spring. When we left home, the leaves on the trees had not even opened yet and it had been cold. I couldn't take one more day of looking out the window at naked trees and a colorless palette so off we went in search of forests, foods and friends, doing the entire drive in one day...some 780 miles or so!



The next day my friend Janette took me to a private property of a friend of hers to dig truffles. We tried all morning to get Maggie the wonder dog into truffle mode showing her what they looked like and having her sniff them and then rewarding her with liver cookies....she loved the cookies...not so much the truffles! Within only a few minutes of arriving at the hallowed spot, we started finding them. This was my first foray into the field of truffles and I was very excited to say the least.

After hearing my friends talk about truffle hunting all winter it was finally going to me my turn! So we gently lifted up moss and peaked underneath and there they were those adorable little nuggets just waiting for us to find them.







Maggie kept us herded up, we herded up the truffles and then headed out to say hi to the owner and then go check out some morel spots.

We never did have any luck tromping around in logged areas but I did see some indicators that they may be coming. I'm not used to walking in logged areas so it's not my forte. I feel at home walking in burns from previous forest fires to pick morels and so I still wanted to go check a burn on the eastern side of Mount Hood.

A few days later after we spent some time prepping for and throwing a party for Janette's friends and colleagues, we headed on an all day excursion over to Mount Hood and beyond to this burn I wanted to see. We finally got there after a long drive and right out of the car, one step into the burn and I spotted my first morel! Wow, what a great feeling. Then another and another...well, long story short, they were there, but not in great quantities at least at the level we were looking. The problem was the spot was very, very steep terrain and we would need to be 3/4 billy goat to make it up that hill. So, we traversed back and forth zig zagging and picking a few morels and even drove up the road looking for another spot. Unfortunately, we could tell it had already been picked pretty hard and unless we were willing to go trekking up that cliff, we were not going to find many morels. Also, that was the day it decided to get incredibly hot, into the upper 80's to low 90's so it was tough going. We managed to find enough for a feast however, so decided to head home.



Oh, did I say feast? Yep...we made a pizza with caramelized onions, ribeye steak and morels...oh and popcorn smothered in melted butter and grated truffles...super yum....(did I mention Janette is opening a restaurant in Dallas, Oregon? L'Attitude Point One check it out soon)

Well, after a full week of foraging for mushrooms and playing with friends, it was time to head home. The weather had turned to stifling hot with temps up to 100 (so it said on my car thermometer) as I drove along the Columbia River Gorge on Saturday afternoon. That's just too hot for anything! We spent the night in a motel in Conner, WA and I could just see it on Maggie's face, can we go home now?



The next afternoon, Sunday, we completed the trip back to SW Montana and low and behold, spring had sprung in my absence and the trees had finally opened and all was right with the world once again. Montana experienced some of that heat wave and that was all it needed to kick spring into full speed ahead.



We stopped on the way from town to my house and checked my local wild asparagus spots that were all starting to produce, so in about 5 minutes I had picked a pound of fresh wild asparagus and was going home with my fresh oysters I got at the Portland Farmers Market on Saturday morning, my bag of truffles, bag of morels and all kind of goodies I bought along the way so it was going to be one of those I'm happy to be home, let's party moments. I chilled a nice dry rose, opened the oysters, cooked some asparagus and made a little creamed morels over toast points and sat on my redwood deck enjoying the beautiful leafy green cottonwood trees that came out to play while I was gone. Life is good and so is having great friends to play with, good food and a place to lay your head at night. Home sweet home.