Cooking Eating Storytelling
Sweet Dill Pickled Pine Mushrooms… What better way to store your freshly foraged wild mushrooms for a long time than pickling them?
I love a sweet pickle, always have, so I naturally gravitate to this pickling liquid but there are plenty of methods of pickling and flavour combinations that you will develop your very own favourite pickling brine in no time.
Enjoy! Blondie 🙂
Pine mushroom Okonomiyaki came about after a lovely forage with our first tour for the year. It’s always fun coming up with new recipes to use these glorious mushrooms in.
This is a Japanese pancake and can have any ingredients you want… this is up there with some of the best ever fridge clearer meals you will make.
The best way to serve Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms is by keeping the flavours simple and clean. A quick sauté to get some caramelisation on them bumps the flavour up enormously.
Happy foraging! Blondie
Wild Mushroom Ketchup…You’re probably as surprised as we were when we first came across Mushroom Ketchup. Mushrooms as ketchup? Not possible!
Well, during our mushroom trip to Oberon, Bella stumbled upon such a condiment. With intrigue she purchased it and with intrigue I made it.
After looking into the history of ketchup I discovered that the tomato version originated about 100 years after the original version, prior to that it was made from any number of foods, for example nuts, fruit, or mushrooms… It originally began it’s life being made from fish and was called ke-tsiap.
In this recipe I have used the saffron milk caps and slippery jacks that I picked at Oberon but you could use any mushroom or combination of mushrooms with equally fabulous results. Also, the fresh mushrooms will need to be left to sit in salt for 24 hours, so this isn’t a spontaneous recipe. It’s also a recipe that gets better with age, so be sure to have some sterilised jars ready.
This photo of my lunch is of my Four’n Twenty pie and I have to say that I will now, and forever be having my pies with Mushroom Ketchup, truly outstanding!!
Enjoy,
Blondie
Wild Mushroom Tarte Tatin with Taleggio and Vino Cotto Drizzle… With Mother’s Day only a month away, I thought I would put up a recipe that would surely bowl her over, especially if you turn up with a bottle of bubbly to go along with it – it would certainly put a smile on my face!
I have used Pine Mushrooms aka Saffron mIlk Cap Mushrooms because the colour is so vibrant and they still retain a firm texture (and I have a ton from our last mushrooming venture!) but if you are having trouble getting a hold of them you could use a Swiss brown and button mushroom mix.
The Vino Cotto adds a gorgeous sweetness to the earthy mushrooms and the melted Taleggio is to die for. Each crispy bite is heaven!
This is such an adaptable dish for whatever the occasion is as you can make a large version to share around a table, or individual tarts that can be served with a little salad on the side as an entree or even as finger food, made in little muffin tins to pass around at parties – and everyone is going to love them!
Happy Mother’s Day!  Blondie
What a fantastic start to the 2013 mushrooming season it has been! Bella and I headed out a few weeks ago to see if mushrooms were about… through the grape vine, or more appropriately, the mycelium (sorry, bad mushroom joke!) we had heard they were appearing. The weather has been a bit warm but NSW did have quite a bit of rain this month so the chance of mushrooms was good.
What a treat it was, the Saffron Milk Caps were in abundance and there were many other eager mushroomers out in force. Lots of them not even making it into the forest but getting caught up early on the road by the beautiful orange fungi strewn across the pine needle floor.
The idea to get the first mushrooming tour going a little sooner than expected came when Bella and I both saw the large amount of Saffron Milk Cap heads breaking through the ground. The tour would be guaranteed to pick plenty of mushrooms the following week to keep everyone happy. Continue reading “FinSki’s first wild mushroom foraging tour”
We went for our second mushroom forage for this year, back to our usual spot at Belanglo.
Our first trip, about 3 weeks ago gave us a promising outlook for the season. Although there weren’t many, we did come across a decent selection of our favourites – Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks. Our thinking was that because there were quite a few so early in the season, that when we arrive this weekend there should be loads more… So wrong!
I was introduced to wild mushroom foraging by Bella and her parents early this autumn. Although it was something that mum grew up doing in Finland it wasn’t something that transferred over when she moved to Australia.
Bella and I had always planned mushroom picking trips but seasons came and went. Finally, one weekend in March when Bella’s parents were making their usual weekend trip we decided to join them.
With an early morning wake up we packed the kids, dog and rations and made the 1.5 hour drive down south to Belango State Forest in the Southern Highlands of NSW for our first mushroom experience.
