Chanterelle Forest Floor Chow
This buttery tasting mushroom is one of nature’s absolute best offerings. Of course they taste even more buttery when I add butter to them. Hey, butter is good for you as long as eat the right kind, organic grass fed butter or Ghee. The Chanterelle, walnut and wild onion are all some of the easiest to find forages. The forests are littered with Chanterelle mushrooms, just be sure you carefully pick them off without disturbing the underground plant. Mushrooms are actually just the fruiting body of a larger, sometimes enormous underground mycelium fungus and will regenerate literally forever if treated properly. We had a walnut tree growing up and it was quite messy but the nuts are easy to gather and eat. Filberts or any other nut you can find should fit right in with mushrooms. There are numerous species of wild onion as well as invasive onions and they are all edible. They sometimes look like other non-edible plants but the smell is a dead give away. If it smells like an onion, it is.
Chanterelle Forest Floor Chow
chanterelle mushrooms
walnuts, or other nut such as filbert
wild onion tops or chives
grass-butter
salt
Chanterelle Forest Floor Chow
Cleaning Chanterelles is considered labor intensive to many but with the help of a mushroom brush they are quick and easy. The measurements make no difference here, so chop the walnuts into smaller pieces, chop the onion tops, and slice some of the larger Chanterelles stemwise into smaller pieces to match the smaller mushrooms for even cooking time. I had a Chanterelle one time that weighed almost a pound. Fresh chanterelles hold a lot of water so it a good idea to place them in a paper bag for a few days to allow them to dry a little. They are much easier to cook and taste better simmered in butter rather than steamed in the water they will render if fresh.
Add nuts to a skillet and bring to med/high heat, shaking skillet occasionally. When you really start to smell them (a few minutes) remove and set aside.
Add butter (maybe a tbsp per handful of mushrooms). Add Chanterelles to melted butter and add some salt. Decrease heat if they darken to quickly. Shake the pan occasionally but let the mushrooms rest for most of the cooking time. They should get some dark caramelized color around the edges when they are done, which could take from 5-10 minutes.
It may be necessary to add a little more butter or some olive oil near the end as mushrooms like to suck up fat. When they are well cooked and walnuts and onions to pan and cook a minute longer, Remove and serve.
by the handful 