After a long summer with hardly any rain at all, we have finally gotten a steady rain. So far only for a day or so, but it should continue throughout the week. Meanwhile, the hot summer temperatures finally dropped, and the first signs of leaves falling from the trees has started.
Two days ago I had 15 minutes to spare, so I went for a quick walk in to woods to take a quick glance at a few Hen of the Woods spots. Miraculously I found a perfect one and took it home to freeze and make dinner with.
This morning, after a night of rain, I checked out several new areas as well as my old favorites. I found several Hen of the Woods mushrooms in a new spot, none in an area with tons of big old oaks that should have been home to many of them, and four baby Hen of the Woods in my old favorite spots that should hopefully grow nice and big with all the rain that is coming.
Meanwhile, I came across an area with several mushrooms that looked an awful lot like supermarket mushrooms. These looked like portobello-sized button mushrooms. When I got home, I looked them up, and it seemed like there was a very good chance these are a 'choice' edible that I have yet to try. I returned to the spot, fetched the mushrooms, brought them home, and did some research and identifying. I think they are meadow mushrooms.
I cooked up this recipe, added milk until it had a sauce-like consistency, and served it on pasta. I gotta say, this mushroom is amazing. It's like a supermarket mushroom on steroids. It has a very rich mushroom flavor. Even with a quick and sloppy job of preparation, the dish tasted like a fancy expensive gourmet meal.
This is what a mushroom should taste like. Fantastic.
The recipe is very clean and simple, and made a sauce of pure mushroom. I could see spicing it up a little. Maybe adding a bit of cream, wine, herbs, vegetable (I think there is asparagus in the original recipe's picture).