It has been a big summer for wild mushsrooms in Michigan with all the rain. I’ve given away a lot, pickled some, haven’t got around to drying any yet but eaten tons. Upon request, here from the notes are a couple of my past best chanterelle recipes.
Chanterelle Pickles v2
7/15/2021
This is a combination brine and quick pickle I came up with as a compromise, based on much research, because I didn’t want to bother with the full hot water bath canning process but still wanted my pickled mushrooms to last a good while.
Trim, thoroughly clean, and cut into bite-sized pieces:
- 1 lb, 4 oz yellow or cinnabar-red chanterelles
Brine for around 36 hours with 1/8 cup kosher salt, enough water to cover.
Drain mushrooms and allow to dry in a colander a bit. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat almost to boiling:
- 8 oz white vinegar
Then stir in until dissolved:
- 1 tsp wildflower honey
In a sterile mason jar (I used the 650ml kind they sell pasta sauce in), layer the brined, rinsed chanterelles, fairly tightly packed, along with the following:
- 2 springs thyme
- 2 springs rosemary
- 2 sprigs mint
- 2 giant sprigs basil
- 5 cloves garlic
Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the mushrooms and herbs, add enough water to cover (not much, perhaps two ounces), allow to cool fully and refrigerate. Pickles are ready to eat more or less immediately, though they’ll improve with a few weeks’ rest and will keep up to a year in the fridge.
Chanterelle and Chard Frittata
8/19/2017
This recipe is ridiculously, infinitely customizable. I do it with onions and garlic, tomato, I sub in some yogurt sometimes for an egg or two, I sub in cream for the milk, I use whatever’s in the garden, broccoli greens, purslane, basil, arugula, squash flowers etc etc (though the cooking time for the greens should vary according to their robustness), and as long as the proportions of mushrooms/cooked veg/greens to eggs/squishy stuff remain approximately the same, it’s bombproof.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 11 oz chanterelles
- 4 oz swiss chard
- 1 tbsp butter
- 7 eggs
- generous splash of 1% milk
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 red jalapeno, seeded and chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
Heat a medium to large, broiler-safe skillet (cast-iron would be great if it had high sides, stainless steel also works) on the stovetop over medium-low heat until a drop of water beads and rolls around but doesn’t evaporate Add 1 tbsp olive oil, chanterelles, fine-sliced chard stems, and cook 4 minutes until mushrooms release their liquid.
Add chopped chard, salt, butter, cover and cook 3 minutes until chard is wilted. Transfer cooked shrooms and chard to a large bowl and allow to cool a bit. Preheat broiler on low. Return skillet to stovetop burner to reheat with 2 tbsp olive oil. Add to the bowl with the cooled shrooms and chard the eggs, milk, parmesan, jalapeno and thyme, and whisk to break up yolks and combine.
Add egg mixture back into the hot skillet and cook ~7 minutes, until the eggs have mostly set and don’t slosh around when jiggled. Run a spatula around the edge of the skillet once in awhile to loosen and keep from sticking. (It’ll stick anyway.)
Turn off the burner and put the skillet in under the broiler, second from the top rack until lightly browned, not more than two minutes.
Let it cool a few minutes, quarter, and serve right from the skillet with a pie server. Sprinkle on more fresh thyme or rosemary if you’ve got it.