Hello Oregon

I've just recently relocated to Oregon hence the long silence and lack of activity here on my blog. Things are getting a little more settled now so perhaps I'll have more time to spend here posting new and interesting things.

I'm now fortunate enough to be in the most diverse fungal playground in the land. Not only is Oregon loaded with a plethora of wild gourmet edible mushrooms, but there are so many other wonderful foods available for foraging such as razor clams, dungeness crabs, oysters, fiddlehead ferns, sorrel and a host of other delicious things.

Since my arrival here I've been concentrating on fungal delicacies such as porcini, chanterelles, shrimp Russulas and whatever else I can find that is food worthy for the table. I've been having fun photographing a variety of mushrooms as well.

This winter I'm hoping to scope out the best spots for fly fishing for shad on the Umpqua River for this spring when the run begins but I may also get some time in with some winter steelhead fishing. My other winter "business at hand" will be truffle hunting for the elusive Tuber oregonense (Oregon winter white truffle) and Leucangium carthusianum (Oregon black truffle).

You may recall my earlier posts when I was in Oregon digging Oregon spring truffles, Tuber gibbosum. Those will come along in May and June but for now it's winter truffle season and I'd be interested in training my companion Maggie to help me find these delicacies in the woods.

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!