It is the time of year when the spring fiddlehead foragers return to our store to sell us chanterelle mushrooms packed into rounded over Tupperware containers. It is an exceptional year for chanterelle mushrooms because it has rained a lot in Maine this summer and that make them grow large, luscious and most abundant.
We eat mushrooms regularly at our house usually sautéed in a combination of butter and olive oil with a touch of minced garlic at the end but once in a while I make “the dish”. The ultimate chanterelle preparation is combining the mushrooms with lobster meat, cream and cognac. I know what you are thinking; how rich… Yes, but spoon a small portion on a beautiful plate and eat slowly as you ponder how anything could taste this wonderful..
I use 1 pound of chanterelle mushrooms and I pick out the largest ones. Wipe them clean, trim the bottom of the stem off and I like to pull the mushrooms apart by hand keeping the pieces fairly large. The reason I prefer the mushroom pulled into large pieces is because it’s the star of the dish. You’ll see.
It’s a decadent, special occasion, once a year dish so I start with more butter then I should - half a stick of butter in a large skillet. Once the butter is melted and hot add the chanterelles, stir well and cover the pan. Yes, cover the pan. That allows all the juice to pour out of the mushrooms and that is the important to this recipe. It will take roughly 8 to 10 minutes for the mushrooms to be almost cooked and exude all their juices.
Now for the decadence. Add a cup of heavy cream and stir well. Let it reduce by half and become sauce like. When the mushroom sauce looks thick enough add a pound of lobster meat that you have cut into one inch chunks and a good glug of cognac (3 tablespoons), salt and pepper, chopped chives and cook only until the lobster meat is hot and alcohol has cooked away. I don’t know what to say about how many servings this makes. Perhaps one to six servings but I hope I am not at the table with five others or I would double the recipe…
Brenda Athanus runs a small gourmet food shop in Belgrade Lakes, Maine with her sister Tanya called the Green Spot.
The Green Spot
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