We were very disappointed to lose the mushroom vendor from our neighborhood (Del Ray) market this past year, especially as I had made such great progress the prior year in convincing my previously mushroom-adverse husband that they really weren’t so bad. So now to get our local ’shroom fix I have to head to one of the FreshFarm markets, which means Dupont Circle in the winter months.

The preferred choice of both the husband and my son are these cute, sweet little honey mushrooms. They require little effort to prepare, and for a really easy meal, I whipped up some instant polenta, with a generous touch of cheese, then topped it with leftover tomato sauce and sauteed mushrooms.

Quick and scrumptious, what could be better for a (meatless) Monday night?

Recipe: Polenta al Funghi (Mushroom Polenta)

Ingredients:

• 1 pint honey mushrooms
• 1 box instant polenta
• 4 cups water
• salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup pasta sauce

Instructions:

1. Bring water to a boil.

2. Rinse mushrooms and pat dry. Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring only once or twice, until they begin to darken. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan and remove from heat. Season mushrooms with sea salt and pepper.

3. Prepare polenta as instructed on package. When thickened, stir in 1 tablespoon butter and the cheese. Remove from heat.

4. Warm pasta sauce.

5. Spoon polenta onto plates, shaping a small well in the center. Top with a few spoonfuls of pasta sauce and scatter mushrooms over the top. Enjoy! Makes 4 servings.

Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, look very similar to ginger root, but when you begin to peel them they offer an intensely concentrated artichoke aroma. Raw, they have the texture of a water chestnut, but taste sweeter and nuttier. They are a member of the tuber farm and are packed with iron and potassium. They aid in digestion and store carbs as inulin, not starch, making them an ideal substitute for potatoes. The farmer suggested roasting them or serving raw in a salad, but I’ve had sunchoke soup on the mind since Ramona’s post in the spring. This simple soup lets their flavor shine. I added mushrooms which added to the earthy flavor, but you can omit them.

Recipe: Creamy Sunchoke Soup
Adapted from Thomas Keller

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sunchokes
• 1 leek, white part and an inch of the green portion, rinsed well
• 1/2 cup maitake mushroom
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• pinch of sea salt
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream

Instructions: Peel and thinly slice the sunchokes. (They are a little tricky to peel, so go carefully.) Slice the leek cross-wise into thin strips. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Melt butter in stock pot over medium low heat. Add sunchokes and leeks and cook until they are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes more. Season with white pepper and salt, and stir in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in blender or with stick blender until smooth. (If using hand-held blender, you may wish to strain through a chinois strainer or cheesecloth to remove any extra lumps.) Stir in cream, warm over low heat for two minutes, then remove from heat and serve. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin: Organic sunchokes and leek, Next Step Produce and maitake from the Mushroom Lady, Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Butter from South Mountain Creamery.

There are few things more comforting on a chilly winter day than a piping hot chicken pot pie out of the oven. Pot pie was one of the first things I taught myself to make when I was learning to cook, and is what I crave when I’m sick. This turkey version provides another option for your Thanksgiving leftovers, or use two fresh turkey breasts. This recipe also makes use of the chanterelle mushrooms that are in season at the farmers markets, though you can use whatever mushrooms you find at your store or even reconstitute dried chanterelles.

Recipe: Chanterelle Turkey Pot PIe

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 9 inch pie crusts
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt and pepper
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsely, chopped
• 2 1/2 cups leftover turkey meat, shredded or 2 fresh turkey breast tenders
• 1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, diced

Instructions: If using a bottom crust, roll out and place in pie plate. Roll out top crust and lay aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. [If using fresh turkey breasts, cube the meat, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium high heat in saute pan until browned, about 6-8 minutes. Remove turkey to plate and cover to keep warm.] Melt butter over medium heat and cook garlic and onion several minutes, until soft. Reduce heat to low, add flour and cook one minute until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk, whisking over low heat until sauce thickens, stir in herbs, salt & pepper and remove from heat. Mix in turkey meat and mushrooms and pour into prepared pie pan. Top with crust, poke a few slits to allow steam to escape, and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, until crust is golden. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!

I got thrown off my food blogging game by our two-day power outage followed by a weekend trip to NY. But we are back and slowly refilling the fridge, so it’s time to catch up!

I wrote previously about our June 1 Del Ray (VA) Farmers Market dinner for Week One of One Local Summer. The star of that dinner was the fresh WV morels. We were a little late to market that week, and as I got in line behind a couple at the Mushroom Lady’s stand, I noticed one last box of morels labeled “Sale! $15.” I waited anxiously as the couple in front of me debated which to pick, and remarked “$15??” when looking at the morels, clearly unaware that those same morels had been $20 the week before. After what seemed like an eternity, they settled on something else and I snatched up the box. Mushroom Lady kindly topped off my pint with a few last stray morels from the box. Per her instructions, I simply cleaned them and sauteed them in butter. They were without a doubt the most intensely flavored mushrooms I have ever eaten. The deep, earthy flavor is hard to describe … suffice it to say that I will not hold off until the end of morel season next spring to pick them up again!

The following weekend we checked out the Port Washington Farmers Market, on Long Island, NY. According to the Local Harvest listing, it is the only all organic market in NY. It was not, however, all local. There was a booth selling Croatian olive oil, and a failure to read the label carefully led to us later opening our “all local” lunch spread and discovering the goat cheese was in fact from Massachusetts. I believe the market was just getting going for the season though, as most of the NY seasonal markets don’t open till June. There was a great Nordic organic bread booth, where we got wonderful cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and the one true farmer had a basket full of beautiful garlic scapes. Here she’s trying to convince a hesitant customer to give them a try.

wood ear, originally uploaded by foodietots.

I was overwhelmed by the variety at the mushroom lady’s stand last week at market, so grabbed the Wood Ears because MamaBird had recently mentioned them. The description noted they were good in stir-fry, so I put together this dish with the bunch of white radishes I just couldn’t pass up. The husband isn’t a big radish person, but ate this without complaint.

About Wood Ear Mushrooms
Wood Ears look a bit like giant, wrinkly ears, growing out of trees, hence the name. They are mild flavored, firm and chewy when fresh, but soften when cooked. Often used in Asian cooking, they are also believed to have medicinal (blood thinning) benefits.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Wood Ear Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 pt. wood ear mushrooms, tough spots removed
1 bunch white radishes, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly slices
handful spring onions or chives, cut into 1″ pieces
approx. 1 t freshly grated ginger
2 T butter
1/3 c dry white wine
2 T soy sauce
kosher salt & pepper

Instructions
Melt butter in saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and radishes and cook until radish begins to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add ginger, spring onions, wine and soy sauce, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook about 8 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and mushrooms are tender. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Served with arugula salad and grilled buffalo steaks.