Hi! I hope your summer is everything you love about summer. Truth : when we started having kids, I didn’t love summer. They were young, it was hot and the days were no different from the rest of the year. I lived in a hot, humid, buggy climate in the south and in the summer it was a crowded tourist attraction. It wasn’t until we moved back north and the kids started school that I really began to appreciate summer. My joys of summer now are a break from the schedule, care-free days, simple meals, foraging, camping and ice cream.
We just got back from a camping trip in Cook Forest State Park in the upper northwest area of Pennsylvania. I grew up going to this campground and it was so great taking my family there and rediscovering it after almost 40 years. It still is the nature haven that I remember. We saw a black bear, went canoeing & hiking, found chanterelles, black trumpets and the BEST ice cream….
...this was a SINGLE scoop of Perry’s Bittersweet Symphony (Coffee ice cream with bittersweet fudge swirls and fudge chunks...drooool!) on a cake cone. Ice cream as big as my face. Somehow I managed to finish it all. LoL.
COOKING CLASSES
Earlier this month I held a virtual cooking class for making Gnocchi with Mushrooms. It was amazing! I just love connecting with people from all over - each of us in our own kitchens - creating a meal and learning along the way. The class was recorded and available for purchase from my website along with a downloadable recipe card that I had so much fun creating :)
Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms
Soon I will be announcing an upcoming series & signups of my next classes : Salad-in-a-Jar and Dinner Bowls. In each class we will make 3 delicious and healthy salads and 1 dinner bowl.
September : Ensalada Mexicano with Cilantro Vinaigrette
October : Vietnamese Glass Noodle Salad
November : Banh Mi Deconstructed
More details of this to come!
What’s the Wandering Cantina Up To?
Even though the Wandering Cantina has been taking a summer siesta, we are growing some of our favorite ingredients!
We planted a tomato and pepper garden
We filled my tower garden with cilantro
We gathered and planted all of the purslane we could find
This is a common summer “weed” that we use in a very delicious pork & purslane dish. One of my absolute favorites. To be honest, it’s one of the reasons that I’m not a total and complete vegetarian. Purslane can be eaten raw or cooked, has a lemony note about it and is one of the highest plant sources of Omega 3. Bam!
FORAGING FINDS
Summer is the season for my absolute favorite, favorite mushrooms: Black Trumpets and Chanterelles. They are in the same mushroom family and have similar flavor profiles even though they look very different from one another.
Black trumpets are super hard to see. But once you find one and your eyes adjust, it becomes easier. Some say to look for “holes” in the ground. The great thing is, once you find a spot, you can come back year after year.
Black Trumpets
Chanterelles
Chanterelles are bright colored and stand out, especially on a cloudy day. I was able to spot these chanterelles while my husband drove slowly through a park. I was so excited that I just threw them into my shirt without trimming the ends, which meant for lots of clean-up later, which I was happy to do. I find it very meditative.
This mushroom knife has a brush on one end. Cleaning them all took me over an hour. It was worth it!
Summer thrills! Chanterelles :)
Chanterelles and black trumpets in a cream sauce is my favorite way to eat them. I served this over scallops. They were sooooo good!
I would love to hear from YOU! What’s your favorite summer plant/mushroom to forage for? AND I’m looking for some new ideas on how to cook chanterelles. For some reason I just cannot imagine them any other way than creamed and usually topping a piece of buttered toast. It is seriously so good.
Happy hunting & cooking, my friends.
With love,
Jessica
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