More Fungi

In case you missed it, I was on BetterTV this morning with some ideas for Thanksgiving sides - especially the under appreciated mushroom.  This time of year we think about potatoes and squash, and we forget that this is mushroom season too.  This is the perfect time for locally foraged and cultivated mushrooms.  On the show this morning I cooked with chantarelles that were foraged here in the Northwest.  Metropolitan Market has a huge display of mushrooms including chantarelles, but also motsutaki, myataki, oyster, and shitake.  All of them are local and all of them are in their peak right now.

My recipe for Mushroom Risotto is HERE.  But I'm not the only one with mushrooms on the brain, check out Sweet Paul magazine's spread for fall featuring tons of mushroom ideas.

Don't forget that just because it's Thanksgiving, it doesn't have to be boring.

A quick tip for buying mushrooms - the "cap" should be closed.  In other words, you should not see the underside of the top of the mushroom.  There should be a protective 'web' hiding it from view.  The web is the indicator of how fresh your mushroom is.  Because the web (that's my word, not technical) is very fragile, it will damage and wither with handling and time.  The less time has passed since the mushroom has been picked, the more intact the web will be.

Or you can ask the guy in the produce section of Metropolitan Market.  They know what they're doing.