Mushroom Recipes for the Trail

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Thursday, Sept. 29, 1988

Mushroom recipes for the trail

By C. Mark Sakry
For the News-Tribune

    A camping trip is a good time to experience the delightful taste of wild mushrooms.
    Armed with your field guide and an experienced mushroom hunter as companion, you attempt and complete a successful north woods harvest. You return to camp with a passel of unblemished, bug-free delectables. You are absolutely positive they are safe to eat—and you're ready to cook up a storm.
    Here are a few recipes easy to put together on the trail, with conventional food-pack fixings and a few simple ingredients from your spice cupboard back home. (With very little trouble, any cook kit can be expanded to include a good assortment of spices and flavoring—just by filling a few plastic film containers and keeping them in a bag.) I have specified my own choice of mushroom in each recipe, but you can substitute any other edibles you may find in similar proportions. Make sure you clean your mushrooms thoroughly before cooking—with just a paring knife and damp cloth, if you can get by without rinsing them in water—and, once again, make absolutely certain they are safe to eat:

I nearly always include wild rice somewhere on my canoe trip menu—I can't resist. Pre-soaking in water all day helps reduce cooking time and makes for more tender rice. Brown, white, or minute rice may be substituted here, however, for shorter cooking time.

Wild rice with chanterelles

1 cup uncooked rice
Ľ cup margarine
2 tablespoons dried onions or chives
8 to 12 chanterelles, sliced or chopped
3 cups liquid (chicken or vegetable broth made from boullion)

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add chanterelles and onions, and saute lightly until mushrooms are slightly reduced. Add rice and cook over a medium fire, stirring frequenty until browned. Stir-in liquid and cover pan. Simmer over low (low!) heat to "steam" for about 1 hour. Serves 6.

The coral mushroom was made to go with eggs. This is a good recipe for those who are a bit squeamish about eating mushrooms in general. It presents no slimy texture whatsoever—just pure flavor.

Scrambled eggs with coral mushrooms

8 whole eggs (or powdered-egg equivalent)
1 cup coral mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon dried onions
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in large skillet; add mushrooms, onions and parsley. Saute until mushrooms are slightly reduced. Add eggs and turn gently with spatula until fluffy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Once you have collected a passel of savory mushrooms for the kitchen pot, you might want to try out the following recipes. The mushrooms specified may be substituted with other varieties if you wish—even the noble Agaricus bisporus you usually buy at the supermarket:

Chanterelle mushroom soup

2 cups fresh chanterelles, sliced and chopped
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon onion, minced
1 bay leaf
˝ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 egg yolk
1 cup sour cream

Melt butter in large saucepan. Combine mushrooms, onion, bay leaf and thyme. Saute for a minute or two, then blend In flour. Add chicken broth and mix thoroughly. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Beat together egg yolk and sour cream; stir briskly into hot soup mixture until smooth and thick. Serves 6.

Braised lobster mushrooms over biscuits

1 baker's dozen biscuits, baked the way you like 'em
2 good-sized lobster mushrooms, thoroughly cleaned and chopped
4 tablespoons margarine
4 tablespoons dried onions
˝ cup liquid (chicken or vegetable stock made from bouillon)
˝ teaspoon dried savory
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with ˝ cup of water

Melt butter in a saucepan with tight-fitting lid; add mushrooms and onions, then saute lightly for a minute before dousing with the liquid. Secure lid on pan and simmer over a low fire for about ˝ hour to reduce mushrooms. Then add remaining seasonings and simmer for a few more minutes before thickening with the corn starch mixture. Spoon heartily over piping-hot biscuits. Serves 4.

THE DULUTH NEWS-TRIBUNE / THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, 1988
Copyright C. Mark Sakry 1988

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