Jennie Geisler: Fresh North East mushrooms inspire spring stew

Jennie Geisler More Content Now

Wednesday

Jun 13, 2018 at 9:18 AMJun 13, 2018 at 9:18 AM

As I was looking for recipes for this week, I found myself in North East (Ohio) reporting a story on community supported agriculture on the farm of Gordon Post. One of many remarkable parts of Post’s farm is a stunning array of logs arranged in a patch of deeply shaded woods, on which he grows mushrooms for his CSA customers, including shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

He and his daughter, Anatasia Post, general manager of the farm’s CSA operations, hadn’t started packing up members’ weekly bags yet, and lots of fresh fungi were ripe and ready for harvest — and cooking.

I try to write about produce in season. Obviously, this counted. I had a bag of fresh mushrooms and I needed a recipe to make and write about. Rarely do I trip into a journalistic situation with this kind of synergy. Usually, I find myself canvassing the city searching in vain for ingredients. I decided not to mess with whatever universal energies had put me in this position and dug around for a recipe that called for what Post had given me: About a pound and a half, two big shiitakes and a sizable chunk of oyster mushrooms.

The New York Times (whose readers probably have access to every ingredient known to man) had a delicious-looking dish called Fresh and Wild Mushroom Stew. It’s not really stew season, but it’s not really not stew season either. It’s kind of in the middle. All I know is there’s plenty of room on any menu for this triumph.

Five things I learned:1. This is one of those dishes in which you build flavor layers with each step, and each step is just a few minutes, so it’s a good idea to have everything ready to go before you start. Don’t count on long pauses during which you can prep stuff as things cook. Chefs call it “mise en place,” or “everything in place.”

I’d chop everything ahead of time and locate your spices and measuring spoons. Make the stew all the way up to the fifth step, when the directions tell you that you can stop for several hours. Then make the rice or polenta if you’re going to serve the stew with one of those.

Absolutely last, saute the oyster mushrooms in the butter, oil garlic and parsley and sprinkle those on top of the stew like you would a condiment. Otherwise, the oyster mushrooms will lose their subtle flavor.

2. The recipe did call for “porcini broth,” which I couldn’t find in my little Conneaut, Ohio, store. They do have mushroom broth at Wegmans. I just didn’t feel like driving all the way to Fairview on this particular cooking day. I’m sure the mushroom broth would be better, but I used plain old chicken broth with no problem. I didn’t heat the broth, by the way. I kind of forgot. Didn’t seem to matter.

3. When you’re stir-frying the shiitake mushrooms, they’ll soak up the oil very quickly and the pan will seem very dry. Don’t worry. The tomato paste is coming to save the day and soon after that the tomatoes themselves. But don’t rush the mushrooms. Their flavor will develop and intensify with a few minutes alone in the pan. Let them be. Watch the heat and stir them a few times to avoid burning.

4. I completely forgot to add the red pepper/cayenne. I didn’t miss it, but my husband probably did. I also didn’t have quite as much mushroom flesh as I thought I did, but that didn’t hurt either. This recipe is very forgiving because there is so much flavor built into it you don’t know what’s missing. If I did it properly, I imagine the stew would be even more stunning. But I was thrilled with the result.

5. Shiitakes don’t grow wild in the U.S., by the way. They’re native to Asia. But under the right conditions, they can be cultivated, as Post does at his farm, by “inoculating” logs with the spores and giving them the right climate. Oyster mushrooms grow everywhere on decaying logs. They come in many colors and can smell like anise. They only require gentle heating to release their flavor. They’re called “oyster” because of their shape.

Add 1 cup mushroom broth and stir until thickened, about 1 minute. Gradually add 1 more cup broth and cook for 2 minutes. The sauce should have gravy-like consistency; thin with more broth if necessary. Adjust seasoning. (May be prepared to this point several hours ahead and reheated.)

Just before serving, put butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. When butter begins to brown, add chanterelles, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for about 2 minutes, until cooked through and beginning to brown. Add garlic and parsley, stir to coat and cook 1 minute more. Add chanterelles to the brown mushroom mixture and transfer to a warm serving bowl. Accompany with polenta or pasta if you wish.