Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sunday Drive: Desperately Seeking Chanterelle

It's wet here, really wet.
But one of the perks of living in perpetual dampness is that it provides the perfect conditions for our favorite fungal friends; mushrooms. Last Sunday we took a drive out to Tillamook State Forest to search for the delicately flavored chanterelle. Both our local Whole Foods and farmer's market confirmed chanterelles were in season, so we read up on them and went a huntin'.

The day started off slowly with gray skies overhead but brightened as we found our first few.

In the end we collected a sizable stash, enough for me to whip up our favorite mushroom pie. The recipe below is an adaptation of one I found years ago in the comprehensive Sundays at the Moosewood cookbook which calls for a sour cream and butter crust but I've substituted my stand-by tart crust recipe with no complaints.

Welcome to Oregon Chanterelle Tart
1 tart pastry recipe see Oh So Good Cherry Tomato Tart recipe or use any savory pie dough

6-8 C. fresh mushrooms Use what you have on hand I usually like to mix it up portabello, crimini, dried morels, white button, chanterelles...
3-4 big shallots, minced
1 T. butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 t. dried thyme or Herb de Provence
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 t. Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the crust dough and pat it into a deep tart/pie pan, cool in refrigerator until ready to fill. To prepare the filling, melt butter in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add shallots and saute until translucent. Add herbs, then mushrooms and turning up heat to medium-high. Cook the mushrooms down until most of the moisture is absorbed. Cut the cream cheese into chunks and melt into the mushroom mixture. Season with salt and pepper and allow the mixture to cool 10-15 minutes before filling tart. Spread mushroom mixture into shell place into preheated oven. Bake 25-35 minutes until crust and top are golden. This pie is rich so serve it with a light salad.

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