Shaggy Soup

Not a lot of time to do much of anything but fix the house as of late so... Out for a run today and found a fruiting of Shaggy Manes. Seems a bit early, but I'll take them when I can find them.

Unfortunately, they were starting to deliquesce when I got to them, so they won't get their traditional flour dredging and sautee. I've read mixed reviews of using Coprinoids that have begun to deliquesce, but figured I'd give it a shot.

5/6 slightly deliquescing Shaggy Manes with the heavy deliquescing gills removed
1/2 yellow onion
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons flour

Destem mushrooms and dice chunks into small/medium sized pieces. Cut the heavily deliquescing from the gills and remove. Sautee mushroom stems and diced onion, garlic, and parsley. Add spices to taste, and sautee additional 30 seconds. Pour in milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream. In another container, mix two tablespoons flour with remaining heavy cream until thoroughly dissolved. Add flour mixture to soup. Simmer additional 10 minutes.

Brined Milkweed Pods

A while back I put Wild Fermentation on my reading list, and totally forgot about it. The other day at the library, someone had pulled it out and left it on the table. Of course I had to take it home and make the Wife angry with all my fermenting projects. One such project happened to fit perfectly with what I had in the fridge.

I love pickles. Everything tastes better with a little vinegar, salt, and garlic. Problem is, unless you've got a few jars to pickle, it's tough to justify the mess and energy it takes to heat up a big 'ole pot o water. Fortunately, Katz' recipes tend to veer away from traditional pickling and more toward lactofermentation.

I had thought about doing milkweed pickles, but didn't have enough, so I tried something out of Katz' book - Brined Milkweed Pods. (He also claims you can do this with Nasturtium pods, but I don't have any of those around so...) Pretty simple recipe and they taste sort of like olives. I've since tried using bigger pods stuffed with cheese, hot pepper, and capocollo. Tastes like something you'd get at the $7.99/lb olive bar.

Milkweed Pickles
2-3 cups of milkweed pods
3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt
1 cup water
4-6 cloves garlic

Stuff the milkweed pods in a jar mixed with the peeled garlic cloves. (I love garlic so I use a lot of garlic. I also love spicy, so I add cayenne pepper and some chili flakes.) Mix the salt with the water and pour over milkweed pods. Depending on how big your jar is, you may need more or less water - but use the same ratio 3/4 T of salt to 1 cup water. Make sure the milkweed pods are underwater and allow to sit. The pods will float, so you will have to find a way to weigh them down. I've used a Collins Glass and a shot glass. Be creative.

Day Lily Fritters

As a kid I can remember driving up and down the road looking for wild asparagus. They were a tough find, and never really that good. What I didn't realize, at least not completely, was the orange flowers on the side of the road were a much easier, much tastier find. We used to call them Tiger Lilies, but in truth they're Day Lilies, and it would seem that most of the plant is edible.
I haven't experimented with the rest of the plant, but I have dabbled with the flowers. Most recently, I cut the newly opened flowers from the plants in my back yard. It's easier to cut the flowers in half, dip them in egg and toss them on the frying pan. With a little salt and pepper they are absolutely delicious. You can also toss the whole flower on the frying pan, and dump some egg right on top once they cook down a bit and have a tasty omelet. It's also said in different places that the dried flowers can be used to thicken soups. We'll see how that experiment works out...

Dock Coffee Part 3

FAIL!!! Unfortunately, this experiment was a big old fail. The initial taste of the drink was bitter, somewhat akin to coffee. Not exact, but for me, close enough. The problem was the aftertaste. I'm not sure how to explain it, other than slightly woody.  I guess, more than slightly. It was more-or-less unbearable, to the point I dumped it out.

I've not completely given up though... I think my problem was two fold. Firstly, I think the season was wrong. Perhaps if I had held my patience and harvested the roots near winter time they might have had a better flavor. I'm also wondering what might happen if I peeled the roots before drying them. The aftertaste had that woody, bark flavor and I'm wondering if it didn't come from that. Just have to wait until it gets a bit cooler and we'll do it all over again.

Dock Coffee Part 2

After three or four days of drying in the closet, the dock roots were dry, and it was time for roasting. According to Thayer, although he's just assuming, you proceed making the dock coffee much in the same way you would dandelion and chicory. He recommends roasting the roots anywhere from 15-60 minutes at 325 Fahrenheit. I gave my roots a fairly decent bake at 45 minutes. They're a nice brown color and are pretty bitter, but not unpalatable when I chew on them. I'm getting a grain grinder tomorrow so I can grind up the roots and cook them for my first cup of dock coffee... You can see in the picture below they are a nice medium brown color, a little lighter than the outside of the roots.

Dock Coffee Part 1

Getting into this foraging thing, I went to the library and picked up Samuel Thayer's Nature's Garden and have been doing a bit of reading - and of course, getting excited and jumping the gun. One of the more easily identified and readily available plants right now - at least for me - is a plant called Dock. Apparently it has many uses. It seems like I've missed the season for the edible greens and it's too early for the seeds - not to mention the seeds don't sound like they're all that worth it to me. Another one of the parts of Dock that can be used are the roots. Thayer claims they're too bitter to eat and use as a vegetable. I gnawed on one and that was enough for me - at least for now. The roots weren't quite as bitter as a big 'ole dandelion leaf, but still a little more bitter than I'd like. All the same, the roots can be dried, roasted, ground and used as a coffee substitute.

Being impatient with the seasons and wanting to try everything, I decided to give the Dock Coffee a whirl. The late-spring early summer isn't the best for the roots as the energy in the plant is going towards the flowers and seeds, but I couldn't help myself.

I dug up a bigger plant and cut the roots from the plant. I rinsed the outside of the roots and then split the roots in halves or quarters lengthwise, depending on how thick the root was. After leaving them on the deck in the sun for the rest of the day, I strung them on a string with a needle and thread and hung it in the closet to dry. Now we wait a few days while the roots dry so we can begin the roasting process.

Chicken Milkweed Casserole

I used all my milkweed up making Battered Milkweed the other day, so I went out the field yesterday and picked a whole lot more. In the past I've been using the young tender tips, but this time I decided to see what would happen if I used some of the bigger older leaves. To my surprise they worked out great.  So far, this is my favorite. I used a few pieces of homemade crusty wheat bread that made a nice spongy bread pudding feel to it. It's not bad with mustard on the side.

1.5 cups boiled milkweed - chopped
1 medium yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
1.5 tablespoons mustard
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon dill weed
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk
4 slices of thick home made bread
1 medium chicken breast
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Saute the onions and garlic. Remove and allow to cool. In separate bowl mix onion, eggs, 1 cup of milk, mustard, coriander, and dill weed. Slice chicken breast into thin strips and boil about five minutes.  Remove chicken and allow to cool. Cut into bite size pieces. Mix chicken, milkweed, and onion and garlic mixture into egg mixture. Grease a nine inch casserole dish and crumble a piece of bread into the bottom. Dump half the mixture over the bread chunks. Chunk remaining bread slices and cover with remaining mixture. Allow mixture to settle and pour remaining half cup of milk over casserole dish. Cook for 40 minutes, cover with cheese, sprinkle on bread crumbs and broil until cheese is brown and crispy.