Chanterelle no kneed, dutch oven bread, made with dried foraged wild mushrooms

Making bread never really interested me much. It seemed like it tied you at home in the kitchen, waiting for yeast to fart just so you could periodically punch it back down. My weekends are very precious and loosing hours that could better be spent outside in the woods, swimming, hanging out or even doing chores has never appealed to me, even though homemade bread is crazy delicious. 

So needless to say, I was intrigued when I started hearing about dutch oven breads, which had as little as 15 minutes of prep time, can rise in the refrigerator for hours or days, so you can get to them when you get to them, and who only need about 40 mins in the oven. 

Mushrooms infuse the bread 3 ways:
powdered mushrooms in the flour,  mushroom
reconstitution liquid and mushrooms baked on top

This manner of bread-making produces a small, dense, oval loaf with a crispy crust that becomes more like a sourdough if you leave it for a longer period in the fridge. 

These loaves are often baked simply, perhaps with some poppy seeds, or olive oil and fresh herbs, but I speculated there was no reason not to infuse the bread with other ingredients and flavors, and so I did. Having just come back from another foraging trip, our larder is rich with chanterelles, especially Cantharellus texensis. 

A pepper-tasting Texas red chanterelle

Unlike the fruity classic golden chanterelle, C. cibarius, the Texas chanterelle is mostly peppery in taste, with the fruitiness fading into the background, and I felt like that flavor would work well in a savory, crusty loaf. 

Plus, chanterelles and their closely related cousins, are often famously ground into powders and used as seasonings. Since they are very thin-fleshed, they dehydrate and grind easily, but their strong flavors mean even a small amount go a long way in terms of taste. So I decided to basically make an infused flour with ground cinnabar chanterelles. 

The darker color and speckled texture looks like whole wheat, 
but actually the color comes from specs of ground-up mushrooms 

The flavor of this bread is excellent, very, very umami and a bit peppery, with a hint of fruit-like sweetness on the very tail end of the palette. Traditional yellow chanterelles would probably make a sweeter loaf.

Beginner foraging: old man of the woods mushroom identification

Identification difficulty: Beginner

Meet the old MEN of the woods, "Strobilomyces strobilaceus" (though most books will use the term Strobilomyces floccopus) and Strobilomyces confusus. 

Old MEN, you ask? Yes, in the Americas the common name "old man of the woods" is often used interchangably for two different species of Strobilomyces that look rather similar. And there is still a different "old man of the woods" in Europe and Asia.

Confused yet? The naming gets worse.

The Latin name Strobilomyces strobilaceus applies only the European species. DNA studies have shown that the American mushrooms--previously believed to be identical--are genetically different, but a Latin name hasn't been chosen yet. 

From a foraging and edibility standpoint, none of this matters. All species share the same identification features, but if you're curious about species naming, check out the taxonomic confusion section at the end of this post. 

Old man of the woods identification

• A cap and stalk mushroom 
• Pores under the cap instead of gills.
• Mushroom cap is light gray with dark gray to black textural elements. Textures can resemble large gray/black "flaps" that hang down (S. strobilaceus), or small gray/black pyramids that stick up (S. confusus). 

• Pore surface is pale gray to charcoal gray to black. 
• Pores aren't round, instead they are angular polygons, often elongated.

• Stem is also dark gray or black and textural, with dark scales along most of the length.
• Entire mushroom bruises pink or red when bruised or cut. This color slowly fades to gray or black. 
• Found in the woods, growing terrestrially (on the ground) or on logs so well-decayed they are basically soil.

That's really all there is to know about identification, this really is an easy group of mushrooms to ID.

Garlic lovers creamy wild garlic parmesan chicken. Foraging recipe.

I love garlic. Most people do, it's one of the most universally utilized spices in all global cuisines. Did you know that humanity is actually specially ADAPTED to love garlic? Most animals are repulsed by the smell and taste of Alliums (the genus that contains both garlic and onions); the pungency is actually a defense mechanism of the plant. And it's a good defense! Against anything except humans that is. Even in people, the smell illicits the same physical reaction as pain: it makes us cry. 

Garlic cultivation dates from at least 4,000 BC, coming out of Far East Asia, however it was almost certainly gathered/foraged much, much earlier, at least 2,000 and perhaps 4,000 years before that.

But why? Why would we eat a plant that illicits a pain response when we smell it?

Well, the entire plant is edible, relying on the smell/taste for defense, rather than poisons, thorns, etc. It's also one of the earliest spring greens to appear, and probably was initially sampled for this reason--little else was available. When our ancient ancestors found that the green part of the plants were non-poisonous, they probably would have sampled more, including the bulb. The bulbs of Alliums would have proven to be an essential resource for early hunter/gathers, as many are full of calories in the form of carbohydrates and sugars. 

Post-flowering garlic bulbils have all
the garlic flavor but don't
need to be peeled

Furthermore, after flowering, garlics and onions grow above-ground clusters of bulbils/bulbettes, which are also filled with essential carbs and sugars. Like nuts, berries and other fruit, these bubils are a source of calories and nutrients that are easy to harvest. In a hunter/gatherer society, calorie deficiencies are death. If you burn more calories to GATHER food than you gain, you will die. 

Which brings us to this recipe.

Right now wild garlic is producing the post-flower bulbils, which are perfect for the lazy garlic lover. 

Why dig when you can pick? Why chop when you can prepare whole? And, my favorite, why peel freaking garlic bulbs which I hate and takes so much time and frustration, when you can pick garlic bulbils. 

Garlic bulbils are the bomb because they have fantastic garlic flavor and don't have to be peeled! 

You're gonna need a lot more garlic

Lazy garlic-lovers creamy garlic parmesan chicken

Serves 4-8, total time about 40 minutes. 

2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs (or breasts)

2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 cups garlic bulbils, flowers and stalks, unpeeled, clusters broken up

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

3 pats of butter

3 tbs. flour or almond flour

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Parsley, optional

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large, flat-bottom pan. I used my favorite 5 quart sauté pan. 
2. Lightly dredge the chicken in flour or almond flour, and add to the hot oil. Fry both sides until browned, about 5 min per side. I used the browning time to break up and lightly chop the garlic. Remove the chicken from the pan, and set aside on paper towels. 
3. 
   Add the garlic and 1 pat of butter to the pan, with more oil if needed. Sauté, stirring constantly, and scraping up the bits of chicken in the pan, until garlic is fragrant, translucent and browned. Because these garlic are inside their skins, you can let them get brown or even a little blackened and they will taste like garlic you roasted in the oven -- fantastic!
4. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low. Pour in the chicken stock and heavy cream and stir completely. Add in the parmesan cheese and stir once more. 
5. Return the chicken to the pan, and settle as far into the broth/cheese mix as you can. 
6. Cover and cook over medium or medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, then flip the chicken and cook for another 8 minutes or so. Test for doneness. Stir in parsley, if using, and cook for one minute more. Remove and serve immediately. The sauce is also great on roasted veggies and potatoes.

Keto teriyaki steak rolls with curly "docksparagus" and garlic scapes

The long flower stalks of curly dock
can be cooked like asparagus

Curly dock, Rumex crispus, is one of the most versatile and abundant wild plants around. The broad, vitamin-rich leaves are the most-known part of the plant, and can be used like spinach or kale. 

As a biannual plant, curly dock produces only energy-gathering leaves over its first growing season. During the second season, the plant will shoot up a central stalk that will flower and eventually go to seed. 

These stalks are a very tasty and unique vegetable, similar in texture to asparagus, but with a sour/tart flavor, more pronounced than the leaves, but less than lemon or rhubarb. Due to the look and the texture, foragers sometimes call this part of the plant "docksparagus".

For dinner last weekend used  made teriyaki-marinated, steak-wrapped wild veggie bundles, topped with a teriyaki glaze, inspired by negimaki. I used docksparagus, wild garlic scapes, and some bell peppers for color and texture. The rolls were very easy and quick to put together, not counting marinade time, with a pretty early clean up as well. 

You can even do the bulk of the work (preparing the marinade) in advance, and store in the fridge.

They came out delicious, while still being healthy: low calorie, keto / low carb, full of nutrients, and dairy-free. 

Using the bulbils of wild garlic is super easy:
no peeling required!

I opted to use wild garlic bulbils (i've been calling them bulbettes al this time) heads instead of store-bought garlic here. I love using this garlic stage, it's so easy. The skins on the garlic bulbils are so incredibly thin you don't have to peel them for cooked applications, just mince everything -- bulbils, skins, flowers, stalks, flower stalks -- together and use in place of commercial garlic.  

Teriyaki steak rolls with wild plants 

Makes around 12 rolls 

2lbs sirloin, flank, top or bottom round, sliced to 1/8 thick

24 long, thin docksparagus stalks, remove tough or dried-out leaves

1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, or 2 half peppers for variety 

Around 36 wild garlic scapes&

For the marinade / glaze

Beef stock 3/4 cup

Soy sauce 1/2 cup

Rice wine vinegar 1/2 cup

Garlic chili oil 1/4 cup, more or less for your spice level

Olive oil 1/4 cup

Sesame oil 2 tbs

Whole bulb garlic or equivalent wild garlic, minced 

2tbs fresh grated ginger

1 tsp white pepper 

1 tsp. corn starch or other thickener

1. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large bowl or 9x12 baking pan. 
2. Add in the sliced beef and marinade at least one hour, or overnight. Marinade in the fridge if marinating longer than a couple of hours.
3. If you've marinaded in the fridge, remove and allow the beef to come to room temperature before cooking
4. Preheat the oven to 375.
5. Cut the docksparagus and garlic scapes into spears around 4inches long. Slice the bell peppers into long strips. 
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the sliced beef from the marinade and lay out on the parchment. Do not discard the marinade

   

   Next time I would only use garlic scapes inside the rolls, 
   no garlic heads with bulbils

   
   
7. Place a mix of veggies on each strip of beef. I used 2 bell pepper slices, 3-4 docksparagus spears and 3-4 garlic scape pieces.*
8. Roll the beef around the veggies and fasten with a toothpick. Repeat for all beef slices. Drizzle with marinade. 
   
   
   
9. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, then flip each roll and roast for another 10 minutes. 
10. While the rolls are roasting, bring remaining marinade to a rolling boil over high heat. Boil for at least 2 minutes. 

    

    For real though, remove the toothpicks before serving. 
    Don't make the same mistakes I did

    
    
11. Mix 1 tsp. Corn starch in a small amount of water. Add to the boiling marinade and reduce heat to medium. Allow to thicken, stirring, and remove from heat. 
12. Remove the rolls from the oven, plate, REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS and cover with the teriyaki glaze. Serve hot.

*Special note about the wild garlic. Right now north Texas wild garlic is in a variety of stages: garlic scape (one enclosed bulb at the top of the stalk), flowering and bulbils, the post-flowering mini-bulbettes at the top of the stalk. The bulbils are excellent in the marinade or in any other minced application, however, they are too thick to cook all the way through if you use them (as I did) inside the rolls. Next time I will definitely keep to the scapes inside the rolls and the bulbils only in the marinade, as they were just a bit undercooked inside the rolls.

Obligatory note on curly dock. Rumex crispus contains substantial amounts of oxalic acid. While there are many commercially grown plants that contain oxalic acid, curly dock may have a larger content. Oxalic acid should be only eaten by healthy people in moderation. (If I do a meal prep with curly dock, I will generally only eat the meals every other day, rather than every day.) People with kidney or liver issues -- especially a tendency for kidney stones -- should avoid oxalic acid, as should breast-feeding women, it can have a laxative effect that can be passed to the baby through the milk.