Absence

It’s been too long since my last post. Though the pull of blogging is very strong, sometimes other things have to come first. I knew I would be away for a couple of weeks for a vacation to Italy, but what I didn’t plan on was having to take additional time to grieve the loss of my best friend. We had to say goodbye to our beloved German shorthaired pointer Julia the day after we returned from our trip. She had a large tumor hidden in her chest beside her heart. She was only twelve, and we had her since she was just seven weeks old. For a while I couldn’t cook—everything was too salty, seasoned with tears.

RIP Julia.

Thankfully, things have been looking up again. I accepted a new teaching position, and I’ve been loving every minute of it. Of course adjusting to a new job was just another thing keeping me away from this space. But now I’m beginning to feel inspired and ready to get back to writing about my adventures in food again.

So stay tuned. I have posts about fooding in Italy planned and new pasta recipes to share. I also have some new baking and pastry recipes in the works that I’m certain you’ll enjoy.

Speaking of recipes, the fall issue of Cooking Club magazine is out. Check out the "Weeknight Cook" column (on page 54) for Creamy Stovetop Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower, Spicy Szechuan Pork Chow Mein, Southwestern Patty Melts, Thai Shrimp and Rice Noodle Soup, and Braised Chicken with Lemon and Olives recipes by yours truly.

And now for a quick cooking class update. The fall Clark College class schedule is out. Seafood Primer was an overwhelming success and Classic Deli Soups is coming up soon. Please join me in the kitchen!

Also, please tune into Flavors radio show at noon PT on Sunday, December 21 to hear hosts Greg and Marleen chat with me about Marinades.

Current event listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

I’d like to leave you with an idea for cooking with fall wild mushrooms. Hubby and I went mushroom hunting last weekend. It was a bittersweet experience—bitter because exploring the woods was one of Julia’s favorite things to do and we missed her terribly, sweet because we hit the jackpot. We found loads of chanterelles.

And lobster mushrooms.

If you are like us and have more chanterelles and lobster mushrooms than you know what to do with, try sautéing them and folding them into some fettuccini with Alfredo Sauce. It’s luxurious yet easy, and it really allows the shrooms to be the star.

Opposites Attract and Chanterelles

They say opposites attract. I believe it. In fact, I think my husband and I prove it. We couldn’t be any more different. He’s left brained and analytical. I’m a creative type and completely right brained. He’s practical, and my head’s always in the clouds. He’s quiet, and I chat endlessly. We don’t have any hobbies in common either. I’m a bookworm and love to shop, which he barely tolerates. He prefers sporty outdoor activities, activities which have often resulted in bodily injury (including one concussion) to me. It can be hard for us to find ways to spend time together.

But there is one thing we’re equally passionate about: foraging for mushrooms.

We both get excited when the fall weather comes, bringing with it the chanterelles. We both eagerly anticipate the thrill of the hunt, and we both fantasize about the size of our haul and the delicacies we will cook with it. The long drive into the woods, the bushwhacking in the cold rain, and the scouring of every inch of forest floor are things that we both enjoy. And of course, we both absolutely love the part where we devour the mushrooms. Now that’s what I call “quality” time together.

Chanterelle Ragu
Printable Recipe

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds chanterelles, diced
4 slices bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup white wine
1 cup milk
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt

Heat a large, heavy pot over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add a third of the chanterelles and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chanterelles to a plate. Sauté the remaining chanterelles in the same manner and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the bacon to the pot, and fry, tossing frequently, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until rendered. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and carrot and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté 2 to 3 minutes more, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Return the chanterelles to the pot and add the milk in thirds, simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nearly dry, after each addition. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, nutmeg, and a generous pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, or until thickened and saucy and the flavors come together. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes enough for 8 to 10 portions of pasta or polenta, which absolutely must be topped with plenty of grated Parmegiano-Reggiano. If you want to go all out, use this to make Lasagna Bolognese. When working with chanterelles, I usually prefer to tear them into bite-size pieces, but I chose to dice them here so that the texture of the finished ragu would more closely resemble Ragu Bolognese.

First Chanterelles of the Season

My husband has developed what can only be described as a sixth sense for mushrooms. Somehow, he knows exactly when and where to look. He said it was time to go hunting. But the weather seemed too warm, and the fog hadn't set in yet. I was certain that the sun was too direct, I was convinced that the ground was too dry. I questioned him. I second-guessed him. I doubted him. Until he led me right to them.


The first chanterelles of the season. This time, I was all too happy to admit he was right.

Despite my husband's keen mushroom hunting intuition, chanterelles are still a rare treat for us. So whenever we find some, we pull out all the stops and make something very special with them. This time it was delicate ravioli.


But before I get to the recipe, here's my interview on the Lonely Gourmet in case you missed it. We chatted about my cookbook and the finer points of searing. So much fun!

Chanterelle Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¾ pound chanterelles, torn into bite-size pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces ricotta
1 ½ ounces grated Parmegiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
1 large egg
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Fresh Egg Pasta dough, cut into sixths
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, diced
¼ cup fresh sage leaves

Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chanterelles and sauté for 6 to 7 minutes, or until tender. Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Let cool.

Combine the chanterelles, ricotta, Parmegiano, egg, and nutmeg in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sheet and form just 1 or 2 pieces of the pasta dough at a time according to the recipe, sheeting it until the second-to-last narrowest setting of the rollers and using 1 teaspoon of filling per ravioli. As you work, arrange the ravioli in a single layer on lightly floured parchment-lined baking trays.

Heat a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the butter and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until browned. Add the sage and a generous pinch of pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute, or until the sage is crisp. Remove the pan from the heat and dip the bottom into an ice water bath for a second or two.

Meanwhile, cook the ravioli in 2 or 3 batches in a large pot of boiling, salted water, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until they are al dente. When the ravioli are al dente, using a wire skimmer, transfer them from the pot to a large bowl, drizzle with a bit of the brown butter, and gently toss to coat. Arrange on individual plates, drizzle with the remaining brown butter, top with plenty of Parmegiano, and serve immediately.

Makes approximately 7 dozen 1 ½-inch ravioli, serving 6 as a main course. This was the ravioli plaque used. Speed the cooking time by using two large pots of water for boiling the ravioli. Uncooked ravioli may be frozen in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking tray and transferred to a zip-top bag when frozen solid. Ravioli keep for several weeks frozen. Add them to boiling water while still frozen—there's no need to thaw them, just increase their cooking time by a couple of minutes. Keep scraps of dough leftover from cutting ravioli to put in soup.

Mother Lode

It's what the first forty-niners must've felt like, "I've hit the mother lode!" All right under my feet and free for the taking. At the first sighting a of a precious, precious morel, I squatted down, not to rise again until my thighs were on fire. Before I could drop that first mushroom into my bag, I spotted another, and another, and another…My pulse quickened, I became giddy with excitement. Suddenly I was afraid to move for fear of trampling them. They were all around me!


Our previous morel hunts had varying degrees of success. We'd find onesies and twosies, but never anything like this. This time we collected well over two pounds of morels in just a couple of hours. Seared Rib-Eye Steaks & Steamed Asparagus with Morel Cream Sauce seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our haul. We stopped at a local market for steaks, asparagus, and wine and discovered that they were charging forty dollars a pound for morels. Boy, did I feel rich!


The morels we ate that night hardly made a dent in our stash. Here's how we made another dent…


Morel Risotto
Printable Recipe

1 ¼ quarts chicken broth
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces morel mushrooms, sliced into bite size pieces
1 shallot, minced
1 ¼ cups Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano rice
¼ cup white wine
1 sprig thyme
2 tablespoons heavy cream, optional
¼ cup grated Parmegiano-Reggiano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and butter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the morels and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the shallot and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until soft. Add the rice and stir until coated with the oil. Add the wine and simmer, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until almost dry. Add enough hot broth to cover the rice by about half an inch, and simmer over medium heat, stirring almost constantly and adding more broth as necessary any time the rice looks dry, for 15 to 16 minutes, or until the rice is nearly cooked through. Stir in the cream, if desired, and simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through. Discard the thyme sprig. Stir in the Parmegiano, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. Fresh morels only appear in the spring, so make the most of their fleeting season while you can. The trick to cooking perfect risotto is to stir constantly and add only the amount of broth that the rice can absorb by the time it is cooked through. You can add plenty of broth at the beginning, but to ensure that the risotto doesn’t end up soupy, add just a ladleful at a time toward the end of the cooking time. When the risotto is done, it should be creamy and the grains of rice should still retain some chew, much like al dente pasta.

Last Chance for Chanterelles

This way to the mushrooms.


This fall, work and general busyness almost kept us from making the long and bumpy trip down the winding dirt road that leads to our secret foraging spot.


Luckily we did manage to make it out during the final moments of chanterelle season. The first freeze found many of the mushrooms before we did, and spent chanterelles littered the forest floor. We mourned their passing as we collected the specimens still in their prime.


At least the ones our helpful pup didn't trample.


The weather turned as if to say, "It's too late!"


But we braved the mud and the cold and the rain to find gold.


Then, as we made our way out of the woods, the snow started.


And just like that, chanterelle season was over.

Before I get to what I made with our prize…Remember how I told you that the Steaks with Chipotle Cream Sauce recipe from Seared to Perfection was featured in The Washington Post? Well since then, the recipe has appeared in the Daily Herald, the Pioneer Press, the Northwest Herald, The Buffalo News, The Seattle Times, and The Herald Sun. It even made it all the way to Qatar in The Peninsula! Now, how cool is that?!

Anyway, back to the chanterelles…


Chicken Braised with Chanterelles
Printable Recipe

4 10 to 12-ounce chicken leg quarters
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¾ pound chanterelles, torn into bite-size pieces
2 strips bacon, diced
4 shallots, sliced
¼ cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
¼ cup cream
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme

Season the chicken leg quarters generously with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature for about half an hour.

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken leg quarters skin side down and cook without disturbing for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they release from the pan and are crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the chicken leg quarters and continue to cook over medium-high heat another 4 to 5 minutes, or until brown.* The chicken should not be cooked through at this point. Remove the chicken to a plate. Add the chanterelles to the pot and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chanterelles to the plate with the chicken. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the bacon to the pot, and fry, tossing frequently, for 6 to 7 minutes, or until rendered. Using the slotted spoon, remove the bacon to the plate with the chicken.

Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pot. Add the shallots to the pot and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Return the chicken, chanterelles, and bacon to the pot and add the broth, cream, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the chicken is fork tender and the meat shrinks away from the bones. Remove the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Simmer the braising liquid for 10 to 12 minutes, or until thickened and saucy. Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprig and season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the chicken leg quarters on individual plates, divide the sauce among them, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. Perfect over a bed of long grain white rice. Vary this dish by using morels in the springtime.

*Searing the chicken in this manner adds tons of flavor to the finished dish. For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Gloating

Is it wrong to gloat when you’ve managed to find a rare and desirable raw ingredient? Well, as soon as we were back in cell phone range from our mushroom hunt, I called my family in Texas to let them know that we had found four bagsful of chanterelles.


“I hate you,” was my mother’s reply. (In case you’re wondering, this isn’t the first time she’s become nasty over foodstuffs. At least she didn’t threaten to sever all contact this time.) And then she retaliated, “I’m poaching lobster.” Who knew that the conversation would end with me being just as jealous as they were? Serves me right.


Cream of Chanterelle Soup with Wild Rice
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 ¾ pounds chanterelles, torn into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup white wine
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig Italian parsley
¼ cup heavy cream
¾ cup wild rice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sauté for 10 to 12 minutes, or until soft. Increase the heat to high, add the chanterelles, and sauté for another 10 to 12 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté 1 to 2 minutes more, or until fragrant. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and simmer, stirring, for a minute or so. Add the bay leaf, thyme, parsley, cream, and 2 ½ quarts water. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour, or until the flavors come together.

Meanwhile, place the wild rice into a medium pot and add enough water to cover by several inches. Add several large pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until tender. Drain.

Discard the bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig from the soup, remove from the heat, and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in the wild rice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.

Serves 6 as a main course. This is a vegetarian soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender but remember: never fill a blender more than half way with hot liquid. This means you will need to blend the soup in batches and reheat it before serving.

Morels

Can you spot the morel? Yeah, they’re incredibly hard to find among all those pinecones. We recently went morel hunting, and we found one—count ’em—one single morel for all our efforts. Hardly enough for dinner, but I did add it to a gratin of Creamed Leeks. It’s one of those things, experienced mushroom hunters always keep their foraging spots closely guarded secrets, so we’re just guessing where and when to go. But luckily my morel cravings didn’t go unsatisfied for long—what I didn’t find in the woods, I found at the farmers market.


By the way, morels and asparagus are a perfect springtime pairing.


Seared Rib-Eye Steaks & Steamed Asparagus with Morel Cream Sauce*
Printable Recipe

2 1 to 1 ¼-inch thick rib-eye steaks
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ounces morel mushrooms, sliced into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red wine
¼ cup beef broth
½ cup heavy cream
2 sprigs thyme
1 pound asparagus, trimmed of woody ends

Season the steaks generously with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature for about half an hour.

Heat a medium, heavy sauté pan over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the steaks and cook without disturbing for 4 to 5 minutes, or until they release from the pan and are crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the steaks and continue to cook over high heat another 2 to 3 minutes, or until the desired doneness. Moisture will just begin to accumulate on the surface of the steaks when they are medium-rare. Remove the steaks to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the morels to the pan, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté another 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Add the broth, cream, and thyme and simmer another 6 to 7 minutes, or until thickened and saucy. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender (but do not shock). Using tongs, transfer the asparagus to a paper towel-lined plate and drain for about a minute. Discard the thyme from the sauce, stir in any accumulated juices from the steaks, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the steaks and asparagus on individual plates, divide the sauce among them, and serve immediately.

Serves 2 to 4. Fresh morels only appear in the spring, so make the most of their fleeting season while you can. The sauce is plate-licking good—my husband proved it—and also fantastic with seared salmon.


*For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores in the fall of 2010.

And just in case you didn’t find the morel, it’s right there.

The Button Mushroom

Wild mushrooms get all the glory. Sure, they’re exotic, rare, and colorful, and they look sexy on a menu. But the humble button mushroom deserves a little credit too.

Cream of Mushroom Soup
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ pounds button mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup white wine
1 ½ quarts chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
¼ cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and butter and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the onion and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and carrot and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the mushrooms and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté 1 to 2 minutes more, or until fragrant. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and simmer, stirring, for a minute or so. Add the broth, bay leaf, thyme, and cream. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about half an hour, or until the flavors come together. Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprig, remove from the heat, and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper, ladle into bowls, and serve immediately.

Serves 6. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender but remember: never fill a blender more than half way with hot liquid. This means you will need to blend the soup in batches and reheat it before serving. The soup is intensely flavorful and delicious as is, but gild the lily by serving it topped with a drizzle of truffle oil.

More Maitakes

So here’s what I did with the rest of the maitake mushrooms, although I admit it’s more about the clams than it is the shrooms.


Clams with Maitake Mushrooms
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ pound maitake mushrooms, torn into bite-size pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
2 pounds Manila clams
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the maitakes and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the wine and broth and bring to a boil. Add the clams and simmer, covered, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the clams open. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, parsley, and butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 2 to 4 as a main course. Purchase live clams the day you intend to cook them. When you bring them home, the shells may be open, especially if they’ve been stored on ice. Tap them gently and see that they close; discard any that do not close. To prepare them, scrub with a stiff-bristled brush. Discard any clams that do not open once cooked. Serve with a baguette for sopping up the flavorful broth.

Maitake Mushrooms

I just scored a pound of maitake mushrooms for cheap. I love their nutty flavor and crunchy texture, they sort of remind me of potato chips. The only trouble with having a whole pound of maitakes is deciding what to make with them.

Quinoa & Maitake Mushroom Pilaf
Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ pound maitake mushrooms, torn into bite-size pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ cups quinoa
2 ½ cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup sliced green onions

Heat a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the butter and maitakes and sauté for 6 to 7 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the quinoa and stir until coated with the butter. Add the broth and soy sauce, season to taste with pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the green onions and fluff with a fork. Transfer to a bowl and serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish. Another name for the maitake is hen of the woods. If you cannot find maitakes, try this recipe with any cultivated or wild mushrooms that are available—a combination of oyster and shiitake mushrooms would be nice. And feel free to substitute vegetable broth or water if you prefer a vegetarian dish.

Preparing Wild Mushrooms

Whether you forage for them yourself like I do, or you pick them up at the market, fresh wild mushrooms, rare seasonal treat that they are, should be treated with lots of care. Wild mushrooms keep best stored in a paper bag in the refrigerator.

To prepare wild mushrooms, simply brush them clean with a dry pastry brush.


You can use a moist paper towel for the most stubborn dirt, but otherwise avoid cleaning mushrooms with water as they will become slimy. Trim as necessary with a paring knife.


Don’t worry too much about removing every last speck, after all, wild mushrooms do come from the forest floor.

To preserve their natural shapes, tear large chanterelle, hedgehog, oyster, and maitake mushrooms into smaller pieces.


Slice lobster, porcini, and morel mushrooms into bite-size pieces with a knife.


The wild mushrooms are now ready to cook.

The Hunt

We look forward to hunting season each fall. When the morning fog comes, we know it’s time to head for the forest. We stalk our prey armed with a pocket knife, a pastry brush, and lots of brown paper bags. We are in pursuit of the wild and elusive chanterelle mushroom.


And the extremely rare lobster mushroom.


They hide under clods of soil, they’re camouflaged as fallen leaves, but they cannot evade capture for long. We’re on their trail.

We had a good hunt.


We’ve been feasting ever since. This week I made chanterelle soup, herbed polenta with creamy chanterelle sauce, and some fantastic wild mushroom pizzas, and we’ve only eaten our way through half of the mushrooms so far. We’d better start planning our next hunting trip.


Wild Mushroom Pizza
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¾ pound wild mushrooms, sliced or torn into bite-size pieces
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe Simple Pizza Dough
1 recipe Alfredo Sauce, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 500˚F with a baking stone on the center rack.

Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender.


Season to taste with salt and pepper and let cool.

Gently deflate the dough, cut it in half, and form each half into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.

Keeping the remaining dough covered as you work, gently stretch 1 half into a circle, about 12 inches across and slightly thicker around the edges. Place the crust onto a 14-inch parchment paper circle on a baker’s peel. Spread with half of the sauce, leaving a 1-inch border at the edge, and top with half of the mushrooms. Carefully slide the pizza with the parchment onto the baking stone in the oven and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown. Meanwhile, assemble the second pizza with the remaining dough, sauce, and mushrooms in the same manner. Bake the second pizza after the first one is done. Cut the pizzas into wedges and serve.

Makes 2 12-inch pizzas. The oven needs to be good and hot for pizza, so preheat it for at least an hour while the dough rises. Don’t be tempted to skip sautéing the mushrooms, all the moisture that raw mushrooms exude will make for a soggy pizza crust. I like to use parchment paper rather than semolina for sliding the crust off the peel into the oven. It’s less messy and absolutely foolproof, eliminating any chance that the pizza will stick to the peel.