One of the traditions I've really enjoyed over the years is mushroom hunting with my family. This is entirely due to Andrew's obsession with all-things mushroom. For many years I had an annual trip to Colorado to hike fourteeners. Sam and Andrew usually came along. Andrew gradually did less hiking and more mushroom hunting. At first, Andrew just looked for mushrooms, but never tried them. As time went on and as his confidence grew, he started to gather mushrooms and eat them.
The first year this happened was when Andrew, Judy and I rented a small cabin in Buena Vista. We collected quite a few hawks wing and king bolete mushrooms.
A later year we rented a larger cabin outside of Buena Vista and Rachael, Sam and the grandgirls joined us. Our haul of mushrooms was not quite as good, but Andrew still made some wonderful soup and stir-fry.
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| Hawks wing mushrooms found in the vicinity of Mt. Yale outside Buena Vista. They are beautiful and great eating. |
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| An underside view of the hawks wing. |
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| A king bolete mushroom found in the vicinity of Quandary Peak. |
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| A king bolete mushroom near Mt. Yale, still in the ground. |
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| Another king bolete near Mt. Yale. I think this one was too water-logged to use. |
Andrew worked in a small kitchen and cut and separated and rinsed and sauteed and boiled and he ultimately made the best mushroom soup I've ever tasted.
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| King boletes being prepared to be cut up. |
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| Sliced king boletes. |
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| Hawks wings sliced and ready to slice. |
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| A mixture of mushrooms in a pot for soup. |
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| This was the best mushroom soup I've had and suspect I will ever have. Note the light king boletes and the darker hawks wings, then carrots and I believe spinach. Amazing, amazing soup. Note how thick the broth is. If memory serves me correctly, this broth was the result of boiling many, many mushrooms. |
He also stir-fried some mushrooms. I don't ever expect to have a mushroom meal this good again. I think it was about as mushroomy as a soup and a stir-fry can get.
A later year we rented a larger cabin outside of Buena Vista and Rachael, Sam and the grandgirls joined us. Our haul of mushrooms was not quite as good, but Andrew still made some wonderful soup and stir-fry.
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| Mushroom soup the second year. It was good, but not as magical as the soup the year before. Note that the broth is not as dark or as thick. |
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| Sauteed hawks wing mushrooms. |
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| Sauteed king boletes. |
There was something about collecting the mushrooms ourselves and then preparing and eating them that was magical. These will be fond memories.
Andrew's mushroom meals are culinary masterpieces. He is very creative and understands the mix of flavors. I find myself looking for wild mushrooms everywhere we go now, don't you? It's fun to have kids with interesting hobbies.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that Hawks Wings are tasty.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the bolete ID though for "A king bolete mushroom found in the vicinity of Quandary Peak" because red cap, blue staining and lack of netting on stem indicate something other than boletus edulis which looks more like "Another king bolete near Mt. Yale."