Basket Pic July 30, 2009

Went into the forest with my son to pick some mushrooms. I had picked a few the previous evening, so I knew the pickings were good. High summer means bugs, so it is best to harvest soon after a rain. The basket contains Golden Chanterelles, and various Boletes and Lactarius. The day before included what you see here, plus some Beefsteak Polypore. I need to cook and eat these tonight, as tomorrow we're headed to coastal North Carolina. In NC we'll be digging clams and netting shrimp. Summer is bountiful.

Home Fried Laetiporus for Breakfast

I have lots of Laetiporus cincinnatus in the 'fridge. Some of it was "dirty" with dirt and plant material included into the mushroom as it grew. I marinated the dirty batch, and include it on salads and linguine w/clams. The "clean" portion is exactly that; clean, only pure mushroom.

This morning for breakfast, I decided to fry the clean Laetiporus with onions in olive oil. I did not go light with the oil. I liberally coated the bottom of the small iron skillet, knowing the mushrooms would soak up most of it. The home fry consisted of equal parts onion, mushroom and potato. We ran out of table salt, so I drizzled a small amount of soy sauce over the batch.

Eaten while still very warm, the dish was beyond scrumptious. The onions were allowed to cook for awhile before adding the mushrooms. The mushrooms soaked up the sweet, onion-flavored oil. Medium-high heat gave everything a delicious brown glaze. This dish was so good, I'll make some for the wife this evening. I know she'll love it.