A Forager's Lunch

My reward for a morning spent crawling around on my belly in the woods - a warm roasted chanterelle and garlic scape salad topped with a poached egg.

The first chanterelle tend to pop up on the forest floor around the same time as the garden starts producing garlic scapes, so naturally, they go together.  A food pairing by mother nature.  Who am I to argue, I've used this combination before with great success on a pizza, here's the recipe. 

garlic scapes

For this simple salad, I roasted the scapes and mushrooms with a few strips of salty prosciutto and served them warm over baby greens with a poached egg.  Once you break into the soft yolk, it makes a rich sauce over the whole affair, heavenly.

This recipe serves two:

Vinaigrette:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 small shallot very finely chopped

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a small jar with tight fitting lid, and shake to combine.

To prepare the salads, you will need

4 cups mixed baby greens

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves removed

1/2 cup garlic scapes, cut in to 1-2 inch lengths

400 grams fresh chanterelle cut into bite sized pieces

2 thin slices of prosciutto, torn into small pieces

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 475°F. Combine olive oil, thyme and salt in a bowl, add chanterelle and garlic scapes, toss to coat.  Spread the mixture in a single layer on baking sheet lined with parchment, and roast for about 3 minutes.  Add prosciutto and stir the mixture well, continue to roast for another 3-4 minutes, until prosciutto is crispy.

Meanwhile, fill a large skillet with water and bring to boil, add 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Crack the eggs, one at a time, into the water, and then reduce heat to med/low.  Cook eggs until whites are set and yolks are softly set, 3 to 4 minutes. 

Toss greens with vinaigrette, divide salad between 2 plates, and distribute warm mushroom mixture over the greens.  Once cooked, remove eggs from water using a slotted spoon.  To absorb excess moisture, place the eggs on a paper towel briefly before adding to the salad.

chanterelle mushrooms

Chanterelle tend to grow in mossy areas beneath coniferous trees, they are quite common around Nova Scotia.  The little guys are really pretty easy to spot, once you know what you are looking for.  Besides, the hunt is half of the fun.  If you'd like to learn all about foraging for wild mushrooms, The Chanterelle Inn offers weekend workshops in beautiful Cape Breton called Fall Fungi Forays, highly recommended by the parental units.