If not, consider that the above culinary delights are all tossed in a cognac butter sauce made with lobster stock and lobster roe butter (though you could substitute chicken stock & plain butter) for even more lobster flavor.

You’ll likely have extra agnolotti to freeze or serve with another dish.

Drink Pairing: oaky Chardonnay

Ingredients:                                     Makes Four Servings
1 Large Butter Poached Lobster Tail, Cubed (How to Butter Poach Lobster)
1lb Fresh Chanterelle Mushrooms
2tbsp + 1tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Shallots, minced
1 tbsp Cognac
2 tbsp Lobster Roe Compound Butter (could substitute more unsalted butter)
1/2 cup Lobster Stock (could substitute chicken stock)
Chopped Parsley for Garnish

Pasta Dough:
1 3/4th cup All Purpose Flour
6 Egg Yolks
1 Large Egg
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp Whole Milk
Big Pinch of Salt
Rice Flour for dusting

Pasta Filling:
1lb Parsnips, peeled & each cut into three chunks
1″ by 1″ portion of Orange Zest (removed with a peeler)
1 cup Heavy Cream
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
Salt

Optional: Chive Oil & Lobster Claw Meat for Garnish

Directions:
1. Make the pasta dough – Mound the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and add the eggs, milk, olive oil, and salt to the well.  Make the pasta dough following the well method (how to make pasta).  Add more milk or olive oil as needed if the dough is too dry.

Knead the dough until it develops a silky texture.  Wrap it in plastic wrap & let it rest for 30 minutes.

2. In a saucepan combine the parsnips, heavy cream, bay leaf, thyme, orange zest and salt.  Simmer until the parsnips are tender.

3. Remove the thyme and bay leaf, then move the mixture to a blender.  Puree until smooth yet stiff, stopping the blender and scraping down the sides or stirring as necessary.

Taste, then add salt & pepper as needed.

4. Lightly flour the pasta dough & roll it out using a pasta machine or mixer attachment.

5. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan.  Tear the chanterelles down the stem into large strips.  Add to the melted butter.  Sauté the chanterelles until they’re caramelized & emit a nutty aroma. Reserve.

6. Roll out the pasta on your machine to setting # 7 (just until it is thin enough to be semi-translucent).

7. Dust your counter with rice flour and lay down a sheet of your pasta.  Fill a piping bag or zip top bag with the parsnip pasta filling.  If using a zip top bag, snip off one corner to be the nozzle.  Pipe a line of filling down the center of the sheet.

8.  Brush the pasta sheet with a line of water just below the filling and fold the water brushed side over the filling to make a tube with a large flap on one side.

9. Pinch gaps in the filling to form the individual pieces (fewer gaps = larger pieces).  Use a pizza cutter or pastry wheel to cut off most of the top flap.

10. Use the wheel to cut the pieces apart by rolling between the gaps.  Fold the filled portion over the remaining top flap, folding in the two cut sides to close each piece.

11. Add the agnolotti to boiling salted water & boil for 5-7 minutes.

12. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan.

Add shallots to the melted butter, sweat until softened, then add the caramelized chanterelles.  Add the cognac, burn off the alcohol, then add the lobster or chicken stock.

13. Once the liquid in the pan has reduced, remove it from the heat and stir in the roe butter or substitute (if you’re using lobster roe butter, it’ll change color from green to orange).  Add the lobster meat, agnolotti & parsley.  Toss to combine.

14. Serve finished with chive oil and lobster claw meat if desired.

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Pasta Recipes

You crumble a couple of sheets of matzo – preferably a very thin Passover style matzo (though the health conscious amongst us can happily default to whole wheat matzo too) – and soak it in three or four well beaten eggs with a tablespoon of cream or half and half and salt and pepper to taste. Dice up a medium onion or a handful of scallions, two or three crushed and diced garlic cloves, salt, pepper, a little tarragon and a dash of nutmeg and sauté this in about three tbsp butter in a saucepan until the onions are transparent. Then roughly chop the mushrooms – I used the hedgehogs, chanterelles and black trumpets – to yield about two thirds of a cup when chopped. Saute those with the onion mixture over medium heat until the mushrooms soften and the aroma starts making you drool (this is all very precise and scientific). Then pour the matzo and egg mixture over it, stir it around a bit, cover and let it set up like a frittata. Thet thar is breakfast. Matzo never had it so good. Neither did those visiting relatives.

A variation, which works well: crumble one sheet of the matzo very finely into the egg, cream, salt and pepper mixture and let soak. Pour the sautéed mushroom mixture into the matzo and egg mixture in a bowl and mix. Heat up some coconut oil in a frying pan over high heat (I fry in coconut oil because of its easy digestibility and its very neutral flavor). Break the second sheet of matzo into roughly 2” squares. Make “sandwiches” of these squares with the mushroom, egg and finely crumbled matzo mixture, letting each “sandwich” soak in the beaten egg mixture for a few minutes to moisten thoroughly but not get too soft. Using a spatula, transfer the “sandwiches” into the coconut oil and fry until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towel and serve. You can probably think up some sauces for the “sandwiches” but frankly, they don’t need ‘em. These things disappeared off the platter so fast I thought for a minute they had encountered an equal portion of anti-matter.

Of course you know where this can lead – to a sort of French toast stuffed with the mushroom mix, too.

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Mushroom Recipes

Drink Pairing: Merlot Wine

Ingredients:                Makes Eight Servings
2lbs Kobe Beef Stew Meat
3 slices (roughly 1/4lb) Bacon, sliced into small strips (aka lardons)
All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 sprig of Fresh Rosemary
1/2 bunch Fresh Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
1/2 bunch Fresh Sage
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
1 cup Beef Stock, plus extra as needed
1 disk Demi Glace Gold
2 cups full bodied Red Wine (we used Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Brandy, plus extra to taste
1 Onion, peeled & cut in half through hemisphere
2 Celery Ribs, halved
2 Carrots, scrubbed & peeled
Salt & Pepper

Caramelized Chanterelles:
1lb Fresh Chanterelle Mushrooms
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tbsp Oil

Glazed Pearl Onions:
20 Pearl Onions
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Whiskey (we used Maker’s Mark)
1 cup Beef Stock
5 tbsp Unsalted Butter

Recommended Side Dish: White Truffle Polenta Recipe with additional white truffles for garnish if desired.

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

2. Brush any dirt off of the chanterelles & trim off the ends.  Pull them down the middle into long strips.

3. Over medium heat on the stove top, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in an enamel cast iron or cast iron dutch oven.

4. Add the bacon to the pan & sweat it to render out the fat without crisping it.  Remove & reserve the bacon.

5. Dry off the stew meat.  Toss it with salt and pepper and just enough flour to coat.

6. Add the stew meat to the dutch oven and sear it on all sides. To keep the pan hot and get a good sear, you’ll likely want to sear the meat in stages to avoid crowding the pan (we used a second pan to save time).  As each batch finishes searing, remove it from the pan to make room for the next batch.

7. Add the rosemary sprig to the pan while searing the last batch of beef.

8. Drain off the excess fat.  Remove & reserve the rosemary & beef.  Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup of brandy (if cooking over open flame, measure the brandy out into a separate container first, rather than pouring from the bottle for safety’s sake).

9. Reduce the brandy slightly, then return the beef, rosemary and bacon to the pan.  Add the red wine, 1 cup of the beef stock and increase the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer.

10. Make a bouquet garni of the fresh sage, thyme and parsley, either tied together or wrapped in cheesecloth.  Add the bouquet, onion, celery and carrots to the pan along with a small amount of salt & pepper

11. Once the liquid is simmering, cover with the lid & transfer to the oven for about 2 hours (check after 1 1/2 hours), until the meat is tender.  Kobe stew meat seems to cook faster than conventional beef stew meat.

12. While the stew is cooking, put the pearl onions to a small pot of cold water and bring it just to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally to dunk the onions.  Pour off the water and let the onions cool.  Peel them.

13. Once the stew meat is tender, remove it from the oven and take out all the vegetables and herbs.  Strain the liquid into a saucepan using a fine mesh strainer or chinois (reserve the meat).  Taste & add additional salt as needed.

14. Stir in the demi glace & a glug of brandy, plus extra beef stock if needed to get the consistency you want (you want the liquid to be thick, but not syrupy).  Return the beef to the broth.

15. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan until smoking, then add 1 tbsp butter.  Cook the whole chanterelles in batches over high heat, ensuring they’re well caramelized.

16. In a separate saucepan over medium heat, combine 5 tbsp butter, 1 cup beef stock, sugar, whiskey and a pinch of salt.  Add the peeled pearl onions, and cook, basting occasionally, until tender.

17. Add the chanterelles, the pearl onions (leave their cooking liquid behind), and another tbsp of brandy to the stew pan.  Heat the pan to warm the stew meat through, basting with the liquid.

18. Serve atop white truffle polenta or another starch of your choice.

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Stew Meat Recipes
Chanterelle Recipes
Kobe Beef Recipes

1) Put the desired amount of dried mushrooms in a non-reactive bowl.

2) Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms to cover.

3) Let sit for at least 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender.

4) Strain the mushrooms and use in recipes that call for fresh mushrooms. Reserve the water as it serves as a flavorful base for making stock.

Note: Dried Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms reconstitute woody and tough. Accordingly, we only recommend dried chanterelles to be used in dishes that are to be pureed.

Related: How to Freeze, Can & Dehydrate Fresh Mushrooms

How to Dehydrate Fresh Mushrooms
If you dry them, they will last for years and retain an intensified form of their intrinsic flavor and vital properties. The best way for most home chefs to dry fresh mushrooms is using an actual dehydrator machine, which dehydrates at a low temperature, better preserving mushrooms’ flavor.

In a pinch you can spread mushrooms on a sheet tray covered with parchment paper in your oven, and bake them at 140 degrees (as low as many ovens will go) until they’ve dried out.  However, this isn’t a perfect method because you’re likely to partially-bake your mushrooms while drying them. 

How to Prepare Fresh Mushrooms For Drying:
For thinner, smaller varieties like chanterelles, black trumpet mushrooms, and hedgehog mushrooms, you can simply lightly rinse , pat dry, and dehydrate them whole. If you find any particularly large or thick examples you may want to halve them first so they’re similar in size to the others.

Thicker, meatier mushrooms like lobster mushrooms, portabellos, porcinis, and shitakes should be sliced before drying. We recommend slices that are about 1/4″ thick.

How to Dry Mushrooms in a Dehydrator:
Start your mushrooms out in a dehydrator set very low (80-90 degrees) for the first few hours, then turn the heat up to 120-125 degrees. You shouldn’t need to use any special tray liners, the basic plastic grates work just fine. It could take anywhere from four to eleven hours to dehydrate your mushrooms. We can’t really give you a better estimate than that, because it can vary quite a bit depending on their moisture content, how much you’re drying, and your ambient humidity. A good rule of thumb is to check them every hour or so until they’re starting to dry out, then switch to checking every half hour. They’re done when they’re completely dried out and hard.

Once you’ve established a baseline for your dehydrator, mushroom type & area, you likely won’t need to check as often in the future. If during your checks you notice some of the smaller mushrooms have finished drying ahead of the larger ones, go ahead and remove the dried mushrooms from the trays early, leaving them in can damage their quality.

Store your dried mushrooms in an air-tight container in a cool, dry cupboard.  Read How to Rehydrate Dried Mushrooms for tips on making them soft again.  

Note: Chanterelles often reconstitute woody, so we prefer to puree them for delicious soups and sauces rather than serving them as whole mushrooms.

How to Freeze Fresh Mushrooms

1. Most varieties you can simply brush off the clinging dirt, but for mushrooms with a lot of nooks and crannies, you might want to give them a gentle rinse, and then carefully dry them as thoroughly as possible.

2. Whether to cut your mushrooms into smaller pieces depends on the size of the mushrooms and your future plans for them. In general, when freezing something the smaller the pieces the better…but if you need them whole or in larger pieces you can freeze them that way.

3. Put a sheet pan in your freezer until it’s good and cold.

4. Place the mushrooms/pieces on the sheet pan in a single layer so they don’t touch each other. Freeze them solid, uncovered.

5. For storage, move the frozen mushrooms to a freezer bag or (even better) a vacuum pack bag. Get as much air out as possible, seal, and keep them frozen until you’re ready to use them.

6. Only thaw mushrooms when you’re ready to use them, as refreezing can damage their flavor/texture.

Note: You can also partially cook (sauté) fresh mushrooms in oil and then freeze them, which will save cooking time later on.

For more info, read How to Freeze Better at Home.

How to Can Fresh Mushrooms
Lastly there is canning mushrooms in oil. Cook down mushrooms in oil and place inside a mason jar, the heat should seal the jar. Keep refrigerated for up to two months!

If anyone has other techniques, please add them in a comment below, or link to your content.

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Culinary Techniques
Mushroom Recipes

This side dish is incredibly easy and really lets the beauty and flavor of fresh chanterelles shine. 

Sweet spring onions, and earthy, full flavored chanterelles that have softened, but still have a good amount of crunch, are brought together with just a bit of herby bite from the tarragon butter.  The total effect is smooth, comforting, and rich without being heavy.

Roasted Chanterelle Mushrooms with Spring Onions

Ingredients: (Makes 4 servings)
1 ½ cups Fresh Chanterelles (you can’t substitute dried Chanterelles for this, sorry, but other wild mushrooms, especially Porcinis, work very well)
2 large Spring Onions
3 tbsp of Unsalted Butter
3 sprigs of Fresh Tarragon
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut the spring onions into half inch slices.

3. Clean the chanterelles.

4. Lay the spring onions in a large baking pan in a single layer.

5. Fill the gaps between the onions with the chanterelles.

6. Add the tarragon sprigs and butter in large chunks.

(Sorry about the gut shot … it was hot in the kitchen)
7. Cover the pan with foil, and roast in the oven for about 40 minutes.

8. Remove the foil and discard the tarragon.

9. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt & pepper as necessary.  Serve.

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Mushroom Recipes

If you’ve ever looked down on the humble skirt steak as inferior to more expensive cuts like the filet mignon…this recipe just might change your mind.  This dish is simple, but delicious and lets the steak and mushrooms stand on their own with just a slight thyme/butter flavor.

Drink Pairings: Oregon Pinot Noir or Sangiovese from Chianti, Italy

Ingredients:
7oz Grass-Fed Beef Skirt Steak per person ( , you could substitute bison skirt steak or Kobe beef skirt steak)
½ cup Fresh Chanterelle Mushrooms per person
2 sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 clove of Garlic, skin on

Plus:
About 1 cup Basic Oil Meat Marinade

Directions
1. Trim off any surface fat or silverskin.

2. Transfer to a zip top bag and add enough of the marinade to cover.  Seal the bag, and transfer it to a bowl in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.

3. Remove the skirt steak from the oil, season with salt and pepper.  Cut into manageable pieces. Get some oil hot in a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the skirt steak.

4. Crush the garlic with the side of your chef’s knife, but do not peel it.

5. Once one side of the steak has developed a dark brown crust, flip it, turn the heat down to medium, and add the thyme, butter, and garlic.

6. Continue to cook the steak until your desired level of doneness has been reached, basting with the melted butter.

7. Remove the steak from the pan, cover it with foil, and let it rest for five to ten minutes before slicing.

8. Saute the chanterelles in the remaining butter in the pan until they’ve darkened, become tender, and emit a nutty aroma.

9. Thinly slice the skirt steak against the grain and plate it with the chanterelles.  Top with a little of the juices that have collected on the resting plate. Serve.

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Flank, Hanger & Skirt Steak Recipes
Chanterelle Mushroom Recipes
Grass-Fed Beef Recipes
Kobe Beef Recipes
Bison Recipes

Nutty, chewy farro (emmer) grain salad loaded with flavor and texture.  The seabeans can be omitted, but they add further complexity to the salad as well as some saltiness and very welcome green color.

Farro Salad with Roasted Beets, Sea Beans, Fennel & Chanterelles

Ingredients:
1lb Organic Farro Berries (aka Emmer Berries)
1/2lb Fresh Chanterelle Mushrooms
½ cup Seabeans
¼ cup Fennel Bulb
2 Beets
1 bulb of Garlic
2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 Shallot, minced
1 tsp of Mustard
¾ cup of Oil

Plus: Pickled Carrots

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. Wash, oil, and salt the beets. Cut the fennel bulb in half and pull apart into sections.  Lightly coat them with salt, pepper, and oil.  Place the beets and fennel bulb in separate baking dishes and cover them with foil. 

3. Cut the top off of the garlic bulb and wrap it in tin foil.  Place the baking dishes in your oven to roast with the garlic bulb on top.

4. Roast for about an hour, until the beets are soft, the fennel bulb is tender, and the garlic has become dark and sweet.

5. In a large pot completely cover the farro with water and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer until tender, adding more water if necessary to keep the farro submerged.

6.  Peel the beets and let them and the fennel cool completely.

7.  When the farro is tender, drain off the water and spread the grain out on a baking sheet to cool.

8. Saute the chanterelles whole in hot oil with a pinch of salt until browned and they emit a rich, nutty aroma.  Let cool completely.

9. Cut the beets into thin wedges, roughly chop the fennel bulb, and mince the pickled carrots.

10. Lightly blanch the seabeans in salted water, then shock them in an ice water bath or under running cold water.

11. Make the roasted garlic vinaigrette with the roasted garlic, vinegar, shallot, mustard, and oil. (how to make a vinaigrette).  You should be able to just squeeze the roasted garlic out of its peel into your vinaigrette bowl.

12.  Toss all the salad ingredients with the vinaigrette, and serve family style in a large bowl.

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Chanterelle Mushroom Recipes
Grain Recipes
Wild Produce Recipes
Mushroom Recipes

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Hello readers of the Marx Foods Blog, my name is Lazaro, I blog over at Lazaro Cooks! Here’s a post highlighting some of Justin’s great fungus products. The star of this show is hand-foraged fresh wild Chanterelles, which have a distinctive yellow color and are some of the best tasting and most sought after mushrooms in the world.  In this dish I used them two different ways to maximize the chanterelle goodness.

Enjoy…

Pan-Roasted Sablefish with Chanterelles, Yukon Golds & Creme Fraiche

Chanterelle Puree:
2 cups fresh wild Chanterelle Mushrooms – cleaned & chopped
1 medium yellow onion – chopped
1 shallot – minced
3 tbs butter
2 tbs blended oil
Sea salt, white pepper
16 oz mushroom stock
1 cup white wine

In a saute pan over medium heat warm oil.  Add the butter.  When the butter melts and foams, add the chanterelles.  Brown mushrooms.  Add the onion and shallots.  Cook for five minutes.  Delgaze with the white wine.  Reduce the wine by half.  Add the mushroom stock.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cook for about 10 minutes.

Transfer to a blender.  WHILE HOT puree until smooth.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer.

Put some puree on the plate and top with the sauteed potato, chanterelle and shallot mixture.  Top it off with the pan-roasted sablefish fillet, some creme fraiche, a drizzle of truffle oil and a pinch of fennel pollen.

That’s it for now…till we exchange a few words again…Peace!

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See what else Lazaro is up to on his blog, Lazaro Cooks!

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Black Cod Recipes
Chanterelle Mushroom Recipes
Fennel Pollen Recipes
Fish Fillet Recipes

 

Chanterelle mushrooms are one of the more widely known and most sought-after of the wild mushrooms harvested in North America. Found in forests on both coasts under conifers and oak trees, they are a warm yellow to orange in color, with a trumpet-like cap over a sometimes spindly stem. Their aroma is both earthy and fruity, often described as apricot-like, and they have an earthy flavor and firm, chewy texture when simply sautéed with butter and herbs or added to a soup or stew. Chanterelles tend to come into season in the Pacific Northwest, depending on weather, anytime from fall until early spring.

General Cooking Suggestions:

Chanterelles are best when shown on their own, such as in a sauté or a ragout, or when accompanying a main dish like salmon or wild boar. Their firm texture and strong earthiness go well with herbs like sage, rosemary, tarragon and thyme. They are good in stews with rich stocks, and go very well with roasted corn and with mild, creamy goat cheese.

Wine Pairings:

Pair a simple sauté of chanterelles with a very dry rose wine from Provence or Spain. If serving them as a side dish with salmon or wild boar, choose a medium-bodied fruity red, such as a simple Burgundy or a light sangiovese like Morellino di Scansano.

Pre-prep:

Brush chanterelles free of any dirt or pine needles you may find. Trim the ends of the larger stems, retaining any trimmings for making stock. Smaller mushrooms will cook nicely as they are; larger ones should be halved or even quartered, lengthwise.

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Mushroom Recipes in General