Summer mushrooms

Fall mushrooms are great, but here in Illinois, the summer may be the better season for fungus.  Here is a delayed post celebrating chanterelles, lobster mushrooms, milky caps, parasols and more.

First, the American Parasol Mushroom, or Leucoagaricus americanus.  There was a huge patch of these growing in mulch under hedges on the perimeter of a parking lot that covers about half a square block.  They fruited pretty much constantly for almost a month.  In all, I bet there were nearly 100 pounds of mushroom in that period, of which I picked something like 30 pounds.  The flavor is kind of interesting with a sort of sharp, almost off taste.  Can't say I love them, but a very pretty mushroom.  I had a lot more pictures but these are lost with my old computer.

 This specimen is particularly pretty, I think.  I dried it, so it's still around.  The fat stem is hollow and those openings go all the way through, so the head rests on bowed columns.  No cooking pics.  I actually sold most of what I picked, but I did make a cream sauce and fried some alone.

 The most prolific hunt of the year came in early August.  Together with the chef of Bonsoiree and Chicago's only (to my knowledge) professional forager I picked almost 30 pounds.  About half of the haul was chanterelles with the balance split evenly between lobster mushrooms and lactarius hygrophroides. There were also tons of boletes out, including huge specimens, but unfortunately they were pretty much all a bitter bolete species.  There were literally more chanterelles than we could pick, not in a small number of discrete patches, but scattered widely throughout the woods.  There were also tons of russulas - some of which acted as the hosts for the lobsters and quite a few amanitas.  There were literally mushrooms anywhere we looked.  It rivaled, but did not quite match, my first mushroom hunt in Santa Fe last summer.

Here's the group shot.

Here's a lobster and a milky cap on the cutting board.

Some chanterelles in the pan.

Here's a wild salmon dinner featuring wild mushrooms.  On top of the salmon is a failed beurre blanc cum fried shallots (will use my copper pot next time).  To the left is a medley of wild mushrooms with chanterelles, milky caps and lobsters.  Salad with some goat cheese from Capriole.  And roasted potatoes of varying kinds from the farmers market with garlic and shallots.

The next day - with tons of mushrooms still in the fridge, I made a mushroom sauce with cream, brandy and dried cherries.  Same varieties of mushrooms.

This was served over some broiled lamb and plated with a wild mushroom and potato casserole with some delicious cheese which I unfortunately can't remember any details about.

In an effort to use all the mushrooms I also made a couple quiches and some casseroles with leftover filling.  Here is one, topped with heirloom tomatoes.  I had better pictures and I think the other quiche had a better crust, but oh well.  It was delicious.