CELEBRATING THE ART OF LIVING WELL,
AS THE FRENCH DO,
BY USING ALL FIVE SENSES
TO APPRECIATE EVERYTHING ABOUT LIFE

(FOR MY JOIE DE VIVRE PHILOSOPHY, READ MY FIRST THREE POSTS FROM JUNE 2009)






30 September 2011

They don't call it the KING for nothing!

Well, we were back in the woods today, foraging for more mushrooms, and we also came home with some beautiful rose hips and cranberries. They were all growing together, so what the heck - the more the better! 

We got a lot of both Boletus edulis and Boletus bicolor today. The Boletus edulis are called King Boletes, and for good reason - they are very large and almost regal, sometimes hiding, sometimes out in the open - just amazing to come across. They grow to about 8" (20cm.) across the cap, as well as in height.
 
King Boletes (above)
 I just love the beautiful stems of the Boletus bicolor - almost like mini tree trunks.
Today's haul

Wild cranberries

Cranberries grow all over Cape Cod. They are just starting to ripen right now, so we didn't pick that many, but will go back for more in a couple of weeks.

The opposite is true for the rose hips, which have been mature and ready to pick for well over a month, now. It was fun to get some at the tail end of their season. Some people even pick them after the first frost, as they are the sweetest then. Although they are probably most commonly thought of as ingredients in tea (think Red Zinger, one of my favorites!) rose hips also make wonderful jelly - a Cape Cod tradition.
 Rose hips and cranberries (above)

For dinner, Jack sliced mushroom caps and stems (the least woody parts) and sauteed them in a combination of olive oil and duck fat, with a touch of butter.
When the mushrooms were tender (in literally a few minutes for such fresh specimens) Jack added lots of coarsely chopped garlic and a little heavy cream. He then added creamy cooked orzo to the mushrooms, followed by freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper, and some grey sea salt. He tossed it all together in the pan, quickly, and the dish was ready to serve.
As an accompaniment to this somewhat rich dish, I made a simple salad of mixed greens, heavy on arugula (my favorite). I added halved, sweet, red cherry tomatoes from our garden and my regular everyday dressing of extra virgin olive oil (a light French one), freshly squeezed lemon juice, grated fresh lemon zest, dijon mustard (my favorite is Maille), freshly ground black pepper and French grey sea salt. Actually, I almost always add minced garlic and shallots to my dressing, but for this dinner, simpler seemed better. The lemony flavor contrasted well with, and provided a welcome foil for the creamy mushroom orzo. Additionally, the greens and reds of the salad provided a beautiful visual contrast to the creamy whites, tans and browns of mushroom dish. (Sorry no picture of this!)

The next dish I want to try with our mushrooms is soup. Our Russian friends said that this is their favorite way to use the bolete mushrooms.

King Boletes - a meal fit for a king!

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