Fungus Tri-Fecta

The mild weather along with our much needed moisture has finally got different varieties of mushrooms popping up. In the garden, under the semi-moldering, frozen tips of the summer squash plant, Shaggy Mane mushrooms are making a show. They are very delicate and I harvest, cook and eat them the day they emerge.

When the caps of the Shaggy Mane begin to open, the mushroom already begins to degrade and within hours they begin to ‘melt’ into inky goo.

On the other side of the yard and driveway, beneath several fir trees with sparse grass and Oregon Grape, Brown Field mushrooms have emerged.

These are the ones that are close in texture and taste to the white mushrooms one would buy in the grocery store. They also are best before the caps open completely, while the fins (gills) are still a bright pink and the flesh is firm all the way down the sturdy stalk. These are big for Brown Fields, the two of them weighed over a quarter pound.

I grabbed some of the Chanterelles that I had from a ‘one bucket walk’ the day before to make a meal with the new found mushrooms.

A sauté with a few onions and garlic in a large skillet began the dish. Just as the onions were beginning to become translucent, I added three chopped Chanterelles and gave a quick stir. Just as the mixture was back up to cooking temperature, I added the diced Field Mushrooms with another quick stir. The sauté was back up to cooking heat quickly and I added the sliced Shaggy Manes before taking the skillet off the heat. The Shaggy Manes are so delicate that they only need to be heated through to cook. I added the tri-fecta to the top of  each bowl full of crock-pot creamy potato soup that had been stewing away for lunch. Mushroom nirvana!