Asheville Mushroom Club

A simple saute is often the best way to enjoy fresh mushrooms. For those more adventurous cooks, I've found a recipe that should be an interesting alternative way to cook with this month's mushroom, the Polyporous umbellatus. This is a delicious recipe from AMC member Margot Eld. You can add your own originality by using a wide variety of fresh mushrooms or mild fish, so it's fun to play with!

Ginger

Halibut with Fresh Mushrooms (Margot Eld, p. 96, Cooking with the Asheville Mushroom Club)

2 T. olive oil
2 lb. fresh assorted wild mushrooms
7 T. unsalted butter, divided
salt and pepper to taste
3 med. leeks, washed well, white and tender green parts finely chopped
1/2 c. chicken stock
2 T. vegetable oil
4 (6-oz.) halibut fillets with skin, about 1 1/2 inches thick
1/4 c. finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Heat olive oil in large skillet until almost smoking. Trim or discard mushroom stems and chop large mushrooms into quarters. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 T. butter; reduce the heat to low and cook until the mushrooms are browned and the pan is dry, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; transfer to a saucepan. Melt 2 T. butter in the skillet. Add the leeks; cover and cook on low heat, stirring a few times until tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the leeks to the mushrooms along with the chicken stock; simmer for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a heavy-bottomed, oven proof skillet, heat the vegetable oil until almost smoking. Season the fish with salt and pepper and add to the skillet, skin side down. Shake the skillet to loosen the fillets and cook over high heat until the skin is browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Turn the skillets, transfer the skillet to the oven, and roast for about 4 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through. Cut 2 T. butter into small pieces; stir the butter pieces and chopped parsley into the mushroom-leek sauce. Divide the sauce among 4 large plates and set the fillets on top. Serve at once. Serves 4.

These recipes is featured in "Cooking with
the Asheville Mushroom Club" cook book on
page 96.

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.

Polyporous umbellatus

By this point everyone knows this is the time of year to look for those large fleshy “hen of the woods”. So you’re out searching around those large old oaks and you spot one. You kneel and pick it and it’s connected to a black underground tuber. The caps are all round, this isn’t Griffola. Relax, you’ve found the umbrella polypore and it’s a really special find.

This is another of those fungi that I just don’t find. I hope that by writing this my luck will change as it did with the cauliflower mushroom. When you find the umbrella take care to cut the many capped branches away from the dirty tuber. This makes cleaning at home much easier and if you don’t disturb the tuber perhaps it will fruit again. This is to me the most delicious of all polypores. I even find the flavor to be superior to Griffola. Try a simple sauté with good olive oil and garlic and toss with you favorite pasta and hard cheese.

I’ve never found enough of the umbrella to consider preserving, but I believe any of the methods previously discussed here would be quite successful.

If you do find the umbrella, remember that it fruits both spring and fall. Mark that spot in your mind or your GPS and check it often.

Enjoy the Indian summer, winter will be upon us soon enough,

Steve

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