Wild Lobster Mushrooms

 Last yr. I bought one of these monsters at the local farmers market. I didn't know a thing about them and just treated it like any mushroom I would buy in the store. I sauteed some in scrambled eggs for breakfast. It was awful, they were not soft at all. I swore I wouldn't waste my money on them again. That one mushroom cost me $3. That's a lot to waste.

Since then Ive been going mushrooming with a friend. Last yr. we got a few corals, lots of Chantrelles and some Boletes. I loved them. I dried them all last yr to use in winter soups and stews.

And so this yr my friend and I went early to see whats out there. I love wandering her farm, hiking thru the woods, finding all sorts of plants and tracking animals too. We went for Oyster mushrooms but I guess they are gone now.....but we found lots of Lobster mushrooms. I wasn't going to take any, remembering my experience with them last yr. But since we were out there I would get some to play with at least. I figure it was no loss if I didn't like them still.

That is my fist, to give a comparison of size.

And so I got quite a few in my basket and along the way back picked a bunch of wild blackberries too. I pick as many as I can of those too while the season lasts and freeze them for canning and baking thru the yr.  I took these mushrooms home and was trying to decide what to do with them There's conflicting advice out there whether to saute and freeze or dry. But I had quite a few and just decided to dry them. It was getting late and I still had to make dinner.  After I cleaned them, I sliced them about 1/4in. thick and dried them.

My bf decided he wanted Alfredo that nite for dinner since I mentioned it earlier to him. I had one chicken breast in the fridge. I had some reg. store mushrooms too and was just going to use that.......then I remembered the Lobster ones. I thought this would be a really good time to play with them. So I took about the equivalent of one big one out and re-hydrated it back to life.

There is no recipe for what I made, just a bit of this and that. But Ill post it here for those who wish to play. I put butter in a saute pan and cut up the chicken breast into bite size pieces. I sauteed that till golden. Then I tossed in more butter, this time much more because I know mushrooms absorb it. I drained the Lobster mushrooms and tossed them in. I let them saute very slowly in the butter while I sliced the store bought ones. I also sliced two garlic cloves very very thin. When the Lobsters were soft, I tossed the reg. mushrooms and garlic in with them and let it slowly absorb all the flavors of butter and chicken and cook and get all mellow.

I tasted them and they were heavenly, I could have eaten them just like that. I tossed the chicken in one more time. While all this was going on I had water for the pasta going. When the pasta was cooked, I drained it. I poured cream into the mushroom mixture and stirred it around. I added the pasta right to the pan with the mushrooms then and stirred it up again to coat well. Added a bit of s & p and some fresh chopped parsley. Put it on our plates and topped with Parmesan cheese.

Dinner was to die for. 
For more info try these links: 
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypomyces_lactifluorum.html
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/

As with any wild thing........please do not pick if your not familiar with one that wont hurt you. Go with an expert, be safe!