John came into the kitchen Thursday with a bucket full of shitake mushrooms. A log that had been inoculated about five years ago and had done Nothing in all this time had suddenly produced this amazing flush. They were half covered in wet leaves and dirt so had to be washed a bit -- not a terrific thing to do to a mushroom but, in this case, necessary -- and spread out to dry.
I decided to prepare them for freezing by sauteing slices in butter with a bit of chopped garlic and a sprinkling of salt.
It took seven different batches to saute all the 'shrooms and the smell was heavenly!
We were having London Broil for supper so I saved the last pan full of mushrooms to go with that.
The rest were vacuumed sealed to enliven some winter meals.
Cream of mushroom soup, mushroom and barley soup, mushroom stroganoff, mushroom pizza . . . suggestions, anyone?