Nils Fredrickson Pine
and Chanterelle Recipes
It is fall now, so I will
share my favorite Chanterelle and Pine recipes.
For Chanterelles you take
some bacon and whack it into pieces and get it to render most of its fat, then
you throw in cleaned and thickly sliced chanties. They are going to
put out a lot of water, let that boil down by 2/3's add whipping cream,
grated nutmeg (and I like Tarragon and Basil), stir it as it simmers until it
is as thick as you want it. Put that over your favorite Pasta---and you
will KNOW that it is possible for there to be a promised land.
For those precious Pines, my
very favorite recipe is as follows: You take a whole boiling chicken, put
it in a pot big enough for you to have drowned the live chicken in. Whack
up a bunch of celery, carrots and onion and put that in and once it
has come to a boil add some bay leaves and thyme. Turn that tough bird down and
let it simmer until the meat is falling off the bones. Then strain the
stock and throw the chicken in. al. away (unless you have a cat with no
sense of taste). Then simmer that stock down by half. Do your
final seasoning, ie. Salt and pepper.
Now if you have done this
process right---skimming off the crap that comes to the top as it reduces---
you will have an amount of relatively clear stock with fine flavor.
To remove that mere chicken
stock from the world of men all that you have to do is to add some very thin
slices of Matsutake and let it
simmer, almost steep, like tea. Add some very finely sliced green onion
at the end. You do that right and you will not only know that there is a
promised land; you will know that you have been there.