MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2003
Mushroom Week

We noticed a trend in our recent recipes: we just love mushrooms! We signed up for the Wisconsin Mycological Society newsletter and mailing list after seeing a lecture on the wide variety of mushrooms here in Wisconsin, and look forward to joining one of their "forays" soon. So for our cooking this week, we thought we'd dedicate it to these delicious, edible fungi.

Our first recipe is modified from Mushroom Cookery by Rosetta Reitz. You can also find her book at various used bookstores online; we found ours at an antique store in Mount Horeb a while ago. Published in 1945, this book covers just about every way you can think of to cook mushrooms. With winter approaching, we thought it would be nice to make some soup, and selected Mushroom Potato Soup. We left out the onions for Laura's allergies, only used the blender on half of the soup, since we enjoy chunky mushrooms, and added a few common soup spices, like thyme and garlic powder. What we ended up with was much better than any canned Cream of Mushroom soup from the store. The leeks were hidden, so that might be something to change for next time.

Next on our list was a Pork Chops with Porcini Mushrooms recipe from my Uncle Ernie. (I also found the recipe online at realthick.com, a maker of whipping cream). We followed this one to the letter, and it's worth it! Make sure you have a huge saute pan to fit the whole meal. You can generally find dried porcini mushrooms at your local Whole Foods or upscale grocery store. They're a little expensive, but well worth the taste.

Besides just eating, we try to learn something about what we cook, and this week we found some good facts on mushrooms. Stay tuned for more 'shroom receipies of Stuffed Mushrooms, Chicken with Mushrooms and Olives!

Posted by Mark @ 7:13 PM CDT [Previous] [Next]