Mum would be proud
Highlights:
Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Pappardelle
Steamed Crab
I grew up hating mushrooms. The raw white button cardboard mushrooms could be found in salads and when cooked, their slimy texture overpowered any taste that may have existed. Growing up in Montreal, this is all I knew about mushrooms.
More recently, my eyes have been opened to whole new realm of mushrooms. In part I credit Moto when he used dried porcinis in a homemade tomato sauce that gave the dish such an earthy intense flavor. I was hooked. Next came the homemade gnocchi in fresh porcini sauce from Liberty Cafe. Not only was I hooked - I fell in love with mushrooms. Since then I've been using dried porcinis, chanterelles, and morels and fresh shitakes, brown criminis, wood ear, tree oysters, portobellas and straw mushrooms.
It is now wild mushroom season in California. At the Alemany farmer's market on Saturday we stopped at the mushroom man and picked out some criminis and tree oysters for a recipe just published on sfgate.com to celebrate the season. I didn't have fresh pasta and instead used gnocchi whose sweet taste balanced well with the wine based sauce.
We couldn't resist the fresh dungeness crab at the market and picked out a 1.75 pounder to steam. 10 minutes of steaming and we had sweet crab meat alongside our wild mushoom pasta and Acacia Chardonnay.
A word of advice - stay away from white button mushrooms.
Asparagus and Wild Mushroom Pappardelle
Steamed Crab
I grew up hating mushrooms. The raw white button cardboard mushrooms could be found in salads and when cooked, their slimy texture overpowered any taste that may have existed. Growing up in Montreal, this is all I knew about mushrooms.
More recently, my eyes have been opened to whole new realm of mushrooms. In part I credit Moto when he used dried porcinis in a homemade tomato sauce that gave the dish such an earthy intense flavor. I was hooked. Next came the homemade gnocchi in fresh porcini sauce from Liberty Cafe. Not only was I hooked - I fell in love with mushrooms. Since then I've been using dried porcinis, chanterelles, and morels and fresh shitakes, brown criminis, wood ear, tree oysters, portobellas and straw mushrooms.
It is now wild mushroom season in California. At the Alemany farmer's market on Saturday we stopped at the mushroom man and picked out some criminis and tree oysters for a recipe just published on sfgate.com to celebrate the season. I didn't have fresh pasta and instead used gnocchi whose sweet taste balanced well with the wine based sauce.
We couldn't resist the fresh dungeness crab at the market and picked out a 1.75 pounder to steam. 10 minutes of steaming and we had sweet crab meat alongside our wild mushoom pasta and Acacia Chardonnay.
A word of advice - stay away from white button mushrooms.
posted by Karen at 9:50 AM
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