Golden Chanterelle Fricassee with Fleur d'Ail

Rain may not be super on your summer beach, but it is divine for the forest floor, opening up a lush mush bed for wild mushrooms. After a rainy week earlier this summer, the mushroom man at the local farmers market in the Quebec Laurentians had a happy heap of wild mushrooms. I came back with a paper bag full of golden chanterelles and lobster mushrooms. The natural yellow-gold and apricot of those mushrooms account for the vibrant hue of yellow in this mushroom fricassee.

Fleur d'ail

At the vegetable stall, same farmers market, I routinely bagged a bunch of fleur d'ail. I get it every summer. Crunchy to bite, delicately green, and mildly garlic-fragrant, fleur d'ail (as they are sold in Quebec) or garlic scapes are the budded stems from which the garlic bulb grows. Chopped fine I use it in just about anything: a remoulade dip, with steamed mussels, in a mustard-cream sauce for steak, in a fresh tomato salsa, tossed in with caramelized onions for an onion tart, as the "aglio" in the aglio-olio caprese pasta popular in our house, in a compound butter, to use for instance on escargots gratin, or even as a simple crisp and colorful garnish.

To humor a friend, who is trying to avoid using cream and butter, I am currently also exploring a no-butter-no-cream version of this wild mushroom fricassee. Stay tuned!

Golden Chanterelle Fricassee with Fleur d'Ail
recipe for 2 (main course) or 4 (appetizer)

250gr mixed lobster mushrooms and golden chanterelles (or other wild mushrooms)
2-3 garlic scapes, chopped in thin rounds
1 small to medium onion, sliced thin
1 small leek, sliced thin
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

Clean the mushrooms with paper towel gently. If they are all different size, break the bigger ones to equal the size of smaller mushrooms. I had a big lobster mushroom, which I divided into many smaller pieces.

Heat olive oil and butter, until butter is melted. Add the sliced onions and leek, and over low heat, saute them gently until soft (do not brown). Still over low heat, add the lobster mushrooms and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Stir in mustard and add the heavy cream and fleur d'ail. Simmer gently for 1 minute, and finally add the chanterelles: gently "wiggle" the pan to let the tender mushrooms "sink" into the cream sauce rather than stir them in. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

We had it as a main course, following a mixed green salad. We dipped crusty bread in the sauce, and ate the mushrooms with no interference of any other flavors.

fleur d'ail among good and golden greens

I love to cook with wild mushrooms, here sauteed with veal sweetbreads (recipe here)