by Patrick Hamilton
We were wondering what to do with all the time left over after dutifully arriving in Oakland two full hours prior to our Portland flight when I noticed people talking to themselves, some looking around, up and or down, and some looking just weird. There were some little private orations and some big gesticulations. Folks were sometimes scrunching down their necks, sort of talking into their collars like the Secret Service do, and others were looking off into terminal space and smiling as words were said in public.
Used to be that just crazy folks walked around talking to themselves but now it seemed that lots of people had gone over to that side. It wasn't until we saw up close that all those travelers were speaking into cell phone microphones that we realized the ratio of crazy to not crazy was not any different in airports than in the country, like say in Sonoma county where I live.
But I wondered if crazies everywhere might be pretending to have cell phone mikes on their lapels and were just using that appearance to look not loony. You never know with crazy ideas and all.
We were heading north to visit with Maggie Rogers and the Oregon Mycological Society, to do some cooking and have the chance to find out up close what books her Fungal Cave Books operation has to offer.
At the Lewis and Clark College kitchen Kathy (my still constant mushroom companion) and I made a fabulous stew -- mussels, clams, shrimp and shallots in a serious porcini tomato sauce with an Oregon Syrah and Maggie's garden herbs (oregano, marjoram, rosemary, Italian parsley).
These boletes were from the northern coast of Sonoma county and picked back in 1998; their developed patina was of shiny dark caramel, deep browns, and almost spiritual flavors and aromas. (Note to readers--I highly recommend storing your edulis in air tight containers and keeping them like well-laid-down wines -- they get better with age.)
During dinner I had sitting to my right a reader of this column, Rita, and she was not made crazy by it (the column, not the proximity to me). I got to be a real raconteur reciting passages from past articles and entertaining her and other folks with real time descriptions of things like just what picking "Kama Sutra style" was and how to pick morels with "Roman Forum form."
Next morning we met up with lots of hopeful morel hunters east of Portland, toward the Columbia Gorge at the confluence of that major waterway and the Sandy River, in cottonwood land. Good spot sometimes, we were told, for morels. A few people did not find any but most folks picked some and even a few picked more. We gave Maggie ours.
An adjunct to my fungal hobby is the collection of any mushroom society's cookbooks and that is one of the reasons that I wanted to look at Maggie's book collection. Plus the fact that she will not make a list of what she has for sale -- I think you have to kind of brain wave her to find out. Or go there. I welcome any readers of this column to contact me if you have any of the above sort of books that you have to get rid of, sell , bequeth to a really good keeper of stuff, etc.
Last issue of MushMag was one of the best I have read and one of the articles I especially liked was by Ken Litchfield about "corn truffles," a.k.a. corn smut. Several years ago I put in this column a recipe for that fungus and I think it's timely to do one again -- right for your harvest (if you followed Ken's directions).
I borrowed from Diane Kennedy, a great authority on Mexican cooking, for this classic recipe. One time I made this to be with a soup stock extracted from lobster shells and it was very, very good. Shrimp shells or any mild fish stock would do nicely too, with cream added and perhaps a bit of brandy and freshly grated nutmeg at serving time.
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Servings: 4 Preparation Time: 30 minutes 1 lb fungus from corn cobs 4 Tbs olive or corn oil 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 2 Poblano or Anaheim peppers, charred, peeled and cut into strips 1 sprig epazote (available in any Mexican grocery, or use a little oregano) Gray sea salt to taste Cut fungus from cobs and chop coarsely. Heat oil, add onion and garlic, and sauté until limp. Add chiles, fungus, epazote and salt. Either add soup stock to make soup or use as a filling for quesadillas. If you are going to do this for quesadillas try to get Mexican cheese and really good tortillas -- flour or corn -- or make your own. You can serve this as a first course and follow with the following: Roasted Mushroom Chili Servings: 10 Preparation Time: 4 hours (but with a lot of non-active time, and how better to spend that time than in learning how to spell genera like Setchelliogaster or Xylosphaera?) 2 lb. mushrooms -- buttons or any Agaricus, chopped large 1 Tbl olive oil 6 stalks celery, diced small 2 onions, diced small 1 green bell pepper, diced small 1 red bell pepper, diced small 6 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbs olive oil 3/4 tsp cumin seed 3/4 tsp anise seed 3/4 tsp coriander seed 1 tsp thyme 3/4 tsp Mexican oregano 3 chiles Negro, dried 4 chiles ancho, dried 1/2 cup packed sun-dried tomatoes 2 27-oz. cans red kidney beans 1 28 oz. can tomatoes, diced 1 pt vegetable stock 2 qt. water 3 Tbs flour 3 Tbs water Gray sea salt and pepper to taste Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss mushrooms in 1 Tbl olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast on a sheetpan until done (about 30 mins). They should become like small kernels. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in enough hot water to cover and let soak until rather soft. Toast the chiles on a medium hot griddle for a few minutes per side and do not allow to burn. Place them in enough hot water to cover and allow to soak for 20 minutes. Cook the vegetables in the 2 Tbl of olive oil for 10 minutes over medium heat. Grind the spices and herbs together in a coffee grinder used only for this purpose, or use a mortar and pestle. Add them to the cooking vegetables, and cook for another 10 minutes. Place the now soft dried tomatoes in a blender with the softened chiles with a little of the chile soaking water (if it's not bitter). Blend to puree and set aside. Add the beans, tomatoes, stock, 2 qt. of water and the puree to the vegetables and allow to simmer for 2 hours. If chili is too thin for your taste make a slurry with the flour and water (in professional cooking there is a rather crass term for this fluid and it has to do with a bull's reproductive activity) and put through a strainer to remove any lumps. Slowly add this to the chili and allow to cook for another 30 minutes. No bull. Serve with grated cheddar cheese, lime cilantro sour cream, chopped white onions that have been soaked in ice water and dried, and sliced avocado. Editor to Patrick: You can tell an onion soaked in ice water and dried from one which has only been dried? Patrick to Editor: Yes indeed. The onions should be briefly soaked, maybe for 5 minutes, and then allowed to dry in a strainer. They lose their "over the top" flavor, which is undesirable in most Mexican cuisine. |
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