Chanterelles for Lunch

There are lots of cooks out there who actually know what they are doing. I pretty much taught myself to cook, out of necessity. I haven’t a clue most of the time, but I do love to eat.

I have made everything posted here. If I can do it, you certainly can. Someday, if there is enough interest, I will gather all these recipes into a cookbook. In the meantime, in the spirit of dashes, dollops and three-fingered pinches, I present them here for you to try. Let me know what you think.

Mike, Walter and I ranged a little farther north than usual in search of mushrooms.

The new territory didn’t yield any boletes or chanterelles, but we collected some wild ginger and a few early cranberries before heading over to Chanty Camp.

Back in familiar environs we quickly gathered some mushrooms for lunch. Mike went south and returned with some goldens, while I went north and found myself in a patch of Cantherellus subalbidus.

Fire restrictions are still in effect, prohibiting our traditional bacon wrapped chanterelle roasted over a campfire, so I lit my propane stove and put the skillet on.

First, a layer of bacon, browned on both sides.

Then I added thickly sliced mushrooms and some chopped wild ginger rhizomes. I turned the bacon and chanterelles several times, until everything was cooked through.

Last, I dumped in the wild cranberries and grated pecorino over the top.

When the cheese was melted, I lifted the mass with my spatula, allowing the grease to drain before serving.

It wasn’t half bad. I would do this again.

You could substitute fresh grated ginger for the wild ginger.

Store bought cranberries or even blueberries would do instead of wild cranberries.

Parmesan or Asiago would work as well as Pecorino.

Chanterelles are chanterelles and there is no substitute for bacon.