Freezing Wild Mushrooms

Too Many? - It's so hard to pass up a nice looking mushroom, even if your basket already weighs 15 pounds.   Those of you who are lucky enough to live near a good picking spot know what I mean.  Where we pick the woods are dense and usually wet, and the hillsides steep.  It is not easy going. We climb over downed old growth stumps, through masses of vine maple branches, and poke around under thick beds of ferns and Salal. All for the pleasure of spotting the beautiful golden, trumpet-shaped Chanterelle coming up out of the moss and fir needles. The mushrooms were plentiful this year and the recent rain had caused them to be full of moisture and , thus, very heavy. 

So, what does one do with 25 pounds of Chanterelles?  We brought ours home and cleaned them right away.  We did this by quickly dipping each mushroom in water and brushing off the forest debris.  We then sorted them by size and spread them out on towels to dry overnight.  Of course, we eat fresh mushrooms in everything we cook for several days.  So far we've enjoyed a fritatta and Chanterelle risotto.  Tonight we're looking forward to a great mushroom soup.  Meanwhile, I've been preparing lots of mushrooms for the freezer.  We've found that unlike many frozen foods, the flavor of Chanterelles seems to improve and become more concentrated once frozen.  I use them often throughout the year.  I usually freeze the mushrooms in three different forms: 1) chopped and sauteed with shallots or onions and maybe a little Marsala - these are great mixed with rice, in stuffings, or with baked chicken breasts; 2) made into duexelles - which are finely chopped then sauteed, also with shallots -  these I use for flavor in soups and sauces, they are also nice as a filling for rolled fish or chicken and roasted whole or in large pieces; and 3) oven roasted whole or in large pieces - these maintain their shape and are very nice in rice and grain dishes or as a garnish in soups or with meat or chicken.

This year I have chosen to oven roast most of the mushrooms mainly because roasting imparts a wonderful flavor and color to the mushrooms, they become almost caramelized.  It is also nice to end up with some large and shapely pieces.  I've roasted the mushrooms two different ways, whole or halved, and chopped with garlic  Here's how it's done:

Oven Roasted Chanterelles

Set oven to 425F. Clean mushrooms, sort by size. I like to roast small or medium mushrooms whole or cut in half, depending on how large they are.  They shrink during cooking, and my goal is to obtain something that still looks like a mushroom, but is small enough to eat in one or two bites.  Place the prepared mushrooms in a large bowl and drizzle with 1-2 Tbsp or olive oil, and a little salt.  Toss the mushrooms to coat.  Spread mushrooms out on a large baking or roasting pan.  Place in oven  until they release their liquid, it evaporates, and the mushroom become a dark golden brown color, about 30 minutes. The smell will be wonderful.  You can now eat them or place in freezer bags and freeze.

Oven Roasted Chanterelles with Garlic

I used the same technique for these except that I chopped the mushrooms into smaller pieces and added several large slivered garlics along with the oil and salt.

Watch for more recipes to come.