Asheville Mushroom Club

Roasted Mushrooms (p. 55, Cooking with the Asheville Mushroom Club)

1 1/2 lb. wild mushrooms, cleaned
1/2 Spanish onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
2 T. olive oil
4 c. vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

Combine mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, and olive oil; toss and spread mixture in a baking pan. Pour in stock, salt and pepper. Cover with foil; roast 30 - 45 minutes at 324 until tender.

These recipes is featured in "Cooking with
the Asheville Mushroom Club" cook book on
page 55.

Club members have collected hundreds of recipes featuring local
and cultivated mushrooms to create a unique specialty cookbook.

Purchase your copy at club meetings for $10 or by ordering from Ken McGill, PO Box 182, Campobello, SC 29322 for $14.95.

Each month we'll be highlighting one mushroom that can be found in WNC during that current month. This is in an attempt to help members or guests learn our local mushrooms. It will also be noted whether the mushroom is edible, ill advised, or poisonous.

Naematoloma sublateritium (aka Brick caps)

Well we’re getting to the famine season fungally speaking, but if one looks carefully there is still food out there. A brisk late autumn walk could yield a brick cap bonanza. I don’t recommend this one for the newbie, but if your identification skills are up to par keep the brick caps in mind.

Look for brick red caps fruiting on deciduous stumps and/or logs. The caps are convex to flat with an in rolled margin. They have a partial cobwebby veil similar to Cortinarius species. The gills are attached and white to grayish purple in color. I have never seen brick caps growing singly, always in clusters.

There is a related species (capnoides) that is also edible. It has an orange cap and grows on conifer wood. Just be sure to avoid the poisonous N. fasciculare and be doubly sure you haven’t picked the deadly Gallerina. I’ve seen all of these growing in the past few days with the exception of N. capnoides.

The caps are usually small (1.5 inches or so, rarely more than 4 inches) so it takes several to make a meal. Younger specimens are much more flavorful than the older caps so pick only the buttons if you can.

Enjoy those brisk late autumn walks and later one of the best late fall edibles.

Steve

Steve Peek, field mycologist and long standing member of the Asheville Mushroom Club