08/15/2024
THE MUSHROOM MESS
This is going to be a new section on the page that deals more with gastronomy than mycology. It’s all good and well to grow great mushrooms but it helps sometimes to have some ways to cook them. So this is the Mushroom Mess Hall at Camp Garry Owen. The first recipe will be a a few different items. It’s breakfast time. Mushroom home fries.
You will need:
1. Potatoes with the skins on them. As many as you would like depending on the size of your dish
2. One sweet red pepper
3. One red onion
4. Minced garlic
5. Salt, pepper, Montreal steak seasoning, chili powder, cumin and or any other seasoning you would like to use.
6. Olive oil for the pan
7. Most importantly up to a pound of oyster mushrooms. We will be using pohu oysters and elm oysters but any oysters will do. These are my mushroom of choice but if you have a mushroom you like better feel free to substitute
What to do:
1. Boil the potatoes so they are soft then chop them into cubes. They should be soft when they go into the oil so they can crisp up a bit. Some people use raw potatoes and slice them thin to shallow fry them but thst is not my recommendation. Others parboil them which is ok too. I like mine fully boiled.
2. Chop your peppers and onions into strips and put aside with the cubed potatoes.
3. Chop mushrooms into small pieces. You are only using the cap of the oyster not the chewy stem unless you are using king oysters or king trumpets or other oysters where the stem is choice for culinary use. Regular oyster stems can also be eaten they just need to be broken down like in a blender or a food processor. But from 1.19 lbs of mushrooms in weight the stem left over after I took the caps only weighed 0.2 lbs so most of the weight is in the water in the caps. Put them aside as well.
4. In a large sauté pan put olive oil. The amount will vary depending on how much you are making and I am the first to admit that I am not really a cook book writer and more spot on measurements would be better but you want enough olive oils to coat the pan and a little extra. Heat on high heat to get oil nice and hot.
5. Then add your peppers, onions and minced garlic and fry for a no more than five minutes while watching the whole time to make sure nothing burns. I know that burners are not universal and the high setting with a propane flame burner is hotter than a hot plate but one will need to use their judgement depending on the equipment at hand.
6. Lower the heat and add your potatoes and your mushrooms. At this point you will begin adding seasoning. Add a little salt, pepper, steak seasoning, cumin, chili powder or anything else your heart desires.
7. Now using the spatula mix the whole thing really well constantly moving the mix. Mushrooms are excellent for taking in the flavor of the things around them. As well as bring their own taste to the dish, they will take in the flavors of all the other ingredients so it’s a good idea to keep the temperature lower as I said before to lower it when adding potatoes and mushrooms, to give the mushrooms time to absorb all around them while still not burning. When the mix reaches a consistency you desire you are done. It’s ready to serve.
Tip: some may wish to put the home fries in a casserole tray and broil or bake the home fries in the oven to make them crispier. That’s a fine idea to be sure. But when cooking with mushrooms the world really is your oyster…. No pun intended.
Mush love and bon apetit.
