Wild Mushroom Gravy

It is panning out to be such a good mushroom year, that we are faced with the good problem of having more chanterelles than we know what to do with. We are eating them in everything possible, making large batches of things to freeze, like Cream of Chanterelle Soup, trading for important things like wild salmon fillets, and I have been enjoying playing mushroom fairy and leaving paper bags of mycological goodness on the doorsteps of friends. I think I’m going to need a costume for this soon.

It is a good situation to be surrounded by an abundance of wild mushrooms.

Our latest idea for putting up our chanterelle haul was to make an enormous batch of wild mushroom gravy to freeze for the winter, much in the same way we did our cream of chanterelle soup in quart mason jars. Some of the ingredients weren’t all that different, since this recipe also involved bouillion, butter and half-and-half. We ended up spending a weekend morning making biscuits and gravy, and gravy and more gravy!

Using our enormous cast iron skillet, we dry sauteed the chanterelles, then some onions…

 And then we mixed them all together to saute a little more.

Then we stirred the broth and roux into the skillet and let it all thicken up into gravy goodness.
 Just perfect to ladle over fresh biscuits.

Here is our favorite recipe from the Cascade Mycological Society:

Golden Chanterelle Gravy

2 Tbsp. butter
2-3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. butter
1 cup onions finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
4 cups golden chanterelles chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp.summer savory
2 Tbsp. sherry
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley chopped
3 cups broth or stock

Make a roux by melting 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat, stir in flour and cook a few minutes. Set aside. Dry saute chanterelles until liquid evaporates and set aside. Saute onions in butter until translucent. Add garlic and saute briefly. Add chanterelles and saute briefly. Stir in seasonings, sherry and parsley. Add broth and roux. Cook until thickened.