Sunday, October 25, 2009

Foraging winding down - but ending on a high note!

While taking a walk a week or so ago, my mushroom-hating fiance pointed out a white, round item hidden in the grass near a fence line. I couldn't believe it- a puffball! And lo and behold, we found two more wonderfully ripe perfectly formed puffballs nearby.

The best thing was, he didn't want anything to do with these nature-provided tofus-of-the-forest, so I got to do whatever I wanted with 'em.

Puffballs are great mushrooms. They are big, easy to identify, and pretty simple to prepare. The downfall is that pillbugs and centipedes like them too, so you may have to fight them for them.











First, I cut off the root part and pealed the thing with a knife.

I fried my first batch of cubed mushroom in butter. A little salt, little pepper. I put these in a ZipLock bag and froze them for future use. Some I ended up throwing into a corn chowder.














The second bunch I sliced. I cooked them in butter and then added roux (butter and flour), milk and more butter and salt, plus parsley. This made a great cream sauce to use over toast.










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