Three course mushroom meal

First course: porcini risotto, pickled Borgotaro porcini and pickled shitake.

Second course: Duck breast with asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes and roasted Portobello mushrooms topped with garlic and pancetta.

Third course: Thumbprint shortbread cookies topped with winter chanterelle marmalade.

Chief cook: Pål Karlsen

Mushrooms for dessert

The usual way to eat mushrooms is to make something savory with them. There is, theoretically speaking, nothing to prevent us having mushrooms for dessert. Mushroom flavor is a flavor, like any other. The only thing stopping us is our mind and mental blocks: we have learned that mushrooms are good savory. This is true.

However, we can also learn that mushrooms are tasty sweet, as a dessert. In my blog, I have written about chanterelle toffee, chanterelle marmalade, porcini cake, cookies and porcini marshmallow. Obviously, mushrooms for dessert is an exciting area that has great potential.

Have you heard of mushroom ice cream? The mushrooms used are candy cap mushrooms (Lactarius camphoratus) which are supposed to taste of both maple syrup and nuts. Sounds super delicious to me.

Yellow Foot Chanterelle Mushroom Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Bacon by Chef Robert W. from Friends School of Baltimore.

Recipe for Candy Cap Mushroom Ice Cream

Another Candy Cap Ice Cream recipe. And yet another.

Passover appetizer

Matzo, cream cheese, a little pepper and winter chanterelle marmalade. 

Norwegian chanterelle marmalade crosses the Atlantic

Soppdagelse's New York correspondent was so intrigued by the Norwegian trumpet chanterelle marmalade recipe that she is taking it to the New York Mycological Society dinner tomorrow night. She describes the marmalade as "intense and addictive".

Chanterelle marmalade

800 g fresh chanterelles (and/or trumpet chanterelles)

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

8 prunes (or apricots, raisins etc), chopped

1 Tbs rose pepper 

1 Tbs black pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper (I used smoked Spanish paprika powder)

1 Tbs fresh ginger, grated

1 stick of cinnamon

4 cardammon pods

4 whole cloves

1 laurel leaf

1 Tbs horse radish, grated (optional)

1 tsp mushroom elixir (optional, otherwise use mushroom soy from the Oriental supermarket)

2 tsp salt

Syrup:

0,4 liter water

0,25 liter vinegar (prefably 12%, but the normal 7% works just as well)

300 g sugar

1. Clean the mushrooms. Boil for a couple of minutes. Strain. (If using dried mushrooms: rehydrate them in hot water and strain. As a general rule, dried mushrooms are a tenth of their weight when fresh).

2. Squeeze the mushrooms dry. Chop into pieces. 

3. Make the syrup. Boil all the ingredients together until you get a clear, sticky liquid.

4. Add the onions, horse radish and ginger into the syrup. Then add the mushrooms, prunes, onions and the rest of the ingredients.

5. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours until you get a "marmaladish" consistency.

6. Pour into clean, sterilized jars. Will keep refriegerated for 1 year. 

7. Enjoy with blue cheese or with vanilla ice cream! NB. This is a "potent" marmalade. A little will go a long way. You can halve the above recipe and still have enough to wow your guests for a long while.