Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Freeze Frame

I discovered these mushrooms growing in a pot in the patio.
It's a collision of sunlight and rain. The equation produces beautiful funghi. A time-of-year phenomenon.
I just wish I knew if they were edible; I love the idea of foraging for wild food, but I'm not stupid enough to eat unknown toadstools.
Still, aren't they cute?
OK. Ice Harvest, Day Four. We have a sack of shriveled cremini mushrooms from the farmers' market in the fridge. (Store them in a paper bag, and they just get more and more wrinkled and concentrated — but not slimy!) We have lots of frozen chicken. And, of course, bags of frozen tomato sauce.
So I was thinking. Chicken pot pie. But not your usual chicken pot pie.
Crust made from flour, butter and grated cheese (all in-house). Filling made with chicken, onions (in-house), potatoes (in-house), shriveled mushrooms, and — oh! — tomato sauce thickened with flour and cream (in-house).
Has this ever been done before?
Thoughtfully submitted by your correspondent, Amana Freezerburn.
(Why aren't any of my Bay Area readers laughing at my pseudonym? Think.)

7 comments:

Sam said...

I'll ask her herself what she thinks as I am meeting her tonight. No Freezer food poir moi ce soir.

cookiecrumb said...

Oh, sly you!!
xx

Dagny said...

Obviously my brain has stopped functioning now that I have returned to working fulltime. The pot pie sounds scrumptious. I was inspired to go into the freezer to see what was lurking. Ended up defrosting a hen that I will be roasting tonight.

Passionate Eater said...

Thanks for the excellent tip about the mushrooms! ... Hey! Aren't you supposed to be giving us ideas on how to clean out our refrigerators and not keep the leftovers there longer?! Just kidding! Wonderful post Cookie!

Michelle said...

Cookiecrumb, I love the idea of the 'ice harvest' (complete with a perfect pseudonym)! since we've all but decided to go to hawaii for our big move next year, we might just be following in your footsteps very soon! ps. your pictures lately have been just beautiful. and thank you so much for your nice comments and support lately.

Anonymous said...

those are cute little fungi. and yes, caution doesn't hurt...
i learned a trick last year from some fungi hunters in the area—take one specimen and place it on a piece of white paper. let it hang out for an hour or so and check out the spores it releases. if they're grey, white, beige, it's cool to eat. red, black, grey, green—stay away. it didn't help me when i went mushroom foraging last season and came across some mystery specimens that leached pink spores. they didn't say anything about that. : |

cookiecrumb said...

Michelle: Hope you're feeling some peace. What? You've decided on Hawaii, not the Bay Area? Wah.
Vanessa! Pink = kinda red. Be afraid; be very afraid.