Fall Recipes Using Game, Wild Mushrooms, and Truffles

by Charles Duke

 

 

Rabbit Stew with Mushrooms

byHank Shaw (Simply recipes)

Ingredients

  • 2 heads of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 pounds Wild mushrooms
  • 4 Tbsp butter
  • 1 rabbit
  • 3 large shallots, chopped
  • 1 cup sherry or white wine
  • 1-2 cups mushroom soaking water
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, or 2 teaspoons dried
  • 1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped into large pieces
  • Salt
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 Cut rabbit into pieces and sprinkle with salt: Cut the rabbit into serving pieces and salt well. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Use all of the rabbit in this dish – you can fish out the ribs and other parts that have little or no meat on them later; they will add vital flavor to your stew.

2 Optional Step with rabbit liver: If you are going to make the crème fraiche-liver thickener, mince the rabbit liver finely and move it to a small bowl. Vigorously mix in about 1 1/2 tablespoons crème fraiche or sour cream. Now put the mixture into a fine-meshed sieve over a bowl and push it through with a rubber spatula. Reserve in the fridge.

3 Roast garlic: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the top third off the heads of garlic and drizzle the olive oil over them. Wrap the heads loosely in foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until cloves are soft and brown. Set aside to cool.

4 Prep Wild mushrooms: Chop off the tough ends of the mushroom stems and either discard or save for stock. Roughly chop or slice the mushrooms and set aside. D

5 Dry sauté fresh mushrooms: Heat a thick-bottomed large pot on high heat for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and shake the pot. Stirring continuously, dry sauté the mushrooms until they release their water.

Turn the heat down to medium-high. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any mushroom bits off the bottom of the pan. Salt the mushrooms lightly. When the mushroom liquid is mostly gone, remove them to a bowl.

6 Brown rabbit in butter: Add the butter to the pot. When the butter melts, turn the heat down to medium. Pat the rabbit pieces dry and place in the pan.

Work in batches if you need to, do not crowd the pan. Brown the pieces well on all sides. Remove the rabbit pieces from the pot and set aside.

7 Sauté shallots: Increase the the heat to medium-high and add the shallots to the pot. Sauté until the shallots are nicely wilted, about 3 minutes. Stir from time to time. Sprinkle salt over everything.

8 Deglaze shallots with sherry: Add the sherry or white wine to the shallots in the pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape off any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Let the sherry boil down by half. Squeeze the roasted garlic and 2 cups of water in and stir to combine.

11 Add thyme, mushrooms, rabbit, parsnips, bring to simmer and cook: Add the thyme, all the mushrooms, the rabbit and the parsnips and bring everything to a bare simmer.

Simmer gently for 90 minutes. You want the meat to be close to falling off the bone. If you want, you can fish out all the rabbit pieces and pull the meat off the bone – it makes the dish less attractive, but it will be easier to eat. Taste for salt right before you serve and add if needed. Stir in the parsley.

12 Add liver mixture if using: If you are using the crème fraiche-liver mixture to thicken your stew, turn off the heat. When the stew stops bubbling, add the mixture and let it heat through for a minute before serving.

Serve with a crusty loaf of bread, a green salad and either a hearty white wine, a dry rose or a light red wine.



WIILD BOAR STEW WITH MUSHROOM AND RED WINE

 By Filippo Teapella (Philos Kitchen 3-19-16)
PREP TIME
TOTAL TIME
 
This wild boar stew is one of my preferred stews! The meat is slowly braised into the wine for hours and the result will be a very soft and tasty entree. The preparation is quite long, but easy, and can be cooked one or two days before, it will be even more tasty! To cook perfectly this wild boar stew I discourage cheap wine, otherwise the taste will be excessively acidic!
Author: 
Recipe type: Stew
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8
INGREDIENTS
  • 3 lb (1.4 Kg) wild boar shoulder
  • 1/8 Lb  pancetta, finely sliced
  • 1 Lb (340 g) wild mushrooms
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 bottle good quality red wine
  • 4 leaves fresh sage
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 1 tbsp double concentrated tomato paste
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 juniper berries
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • to taste table salt
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. BRAISED WILD BOAR STER
    To prepare this tasty wild boar stew, start mincing the Italian pancetta slices, and place into a thick-bottomed heavy pot. Place the pot over low heat, combined with 1 tbsp of olive oil, mustard seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick, paprika, sage leaves and juniper berries. Let the fat of pancetta slowly melt. Now, cut coarsely onion and carrots, then peel and crush 1 clove of garlic.
  2. SEARED MEAT
    When the pancetta is well melted, add the vegetables and rosemary. Meanwhile the vegetables are cooking, cut the meat into dices large about 1 inch. Saute until the onion is soft and translucent, then add tomato paste and stir-fry a couple of minutes. Now, pour the vegetables into a bowl. In the same pot, add a couple of tbsp of olive oil and sear the meat a few pieces at time over high heat, until golden brown on all the sides.
  3. SLOW COOKING
    When the meat is well seared, add the stir fried vegetables, raise the flame and submerge all the ingredients with the red wine. Cook a couple of minutes over high heat, then cover the pot with a lid, and set the flame at minimum. The stew have to very gently bubbling under the lid. Cook 3 hours.
  4. SEARED MUSHROOMS
    Meanwhile the wild boar is cooking, clean the wild mushrooms and cut them into quarters. Peel a crush 1 clove of garlic, then sauté it combined with 2 tbsp of melted butter in a pan over medium heat until golden. Now, add the mushrooms and stir fry over high heat. 
  5. RED WINE SAUCE
    When the wild boar is very soft and well cooked, divide the meat from the other ingredients. Discard rosemary sprig and cinnamon stick, add the water and 1 tsp of cornstarch. Mix with a blender until obtain a consistent sauce. Sift the sauce and pour into the pot combined with the meat and mushrooms. Cook without the lid over low heat until the sauce will be medium thicken. Complete adding salt to taste and black pepper.

Wild Mushroom and Venison Stroganoff 

By Jamie Oliver (Food Network)

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the rice according to the package instructions until it's just undercooked and drain in a colander. Put the rice back in the pan, cover with aluminum foil and set aside to steam - this will give you incredibly light and fluffy rice.

Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and pour in a glug of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes until softened and golden. Remove from the heat and spoon the onions and garlic out of the pan onto a plate. Set aside.

Season the meat well with salt, pepper and the paprika. Rub and massage these flavorings into the meat. Place the frying pan back on a high heat and pour in some more olive oil. Add the mushrooms and fry for a few minutes until they start to brown. Then add the meat and fry for a minute or 2 before adding the parsley stalks (you can do this in 2 pans or in batches if your pan is not big enough) and the cooked onion and garlic. Toss and add the butter and brandy.

You don't have to light the hot brandy, but flaming does give an interesting flavor so I always like to do this. Once the flames die down, or after a couple of minutes of simmering, stir in the lemon zest and all but 1 tablespoon of the creme fraiche and season, to taste. Continue simmering for a few minutes. Any longer than this and the meat will toughen up - it doesn't need long, as it's been cut up so small.

Serve your fluffy rice on 1 big plate and your stroganoff on another. Simply spoon the remaining creme fraiche over the stroganoff, then sprinkle over the sliced gherkins and the parsley leaves. Eat at once!

Simple pasta with fresh truffle

Ingredients
1½ lb linguine or tagliatelle
1½ cup Parmesan cheese
15 tbsp butter
3 oz fresh black or white truffles
salt and pepper to taste
Grate cheese. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente, according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a large sauté pan.
Reserve some of the pasta water before straining.
Add cooked pasta to sauté pan and toss to coat with butter.
Add grated cheese and some pasta water to loosen mixture to desired consistency and mix to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Thinly shave black truffle over each bowl at the table. Enjoy!

Honey Truffle Arborio Rice Pudding

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup Arborio rice
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon honey truffle, finely chopped
  • thin shavings of truffle for garnish

Directions

Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, return to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Stir occasionally, cooking until the rice has absorbed all of the water but it still al dente, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside for a moment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk and sugar. Slowly add the still-warm cooked rice mixture a spoonful at a time, stirring constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Return the pan to the burner and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and scraping down the sides, until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the pudding is very thick and creamy, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and the finely chopped truffle.  Allow to stand for an additional 5 – 10 minutes.  Stir in a little more milk if the pudding is too thick.

Garnished with a few thin shavings of honey truffle just before serving, Arborio Rice Pudding is equally delicious whether eaten warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Add fresh berries or other fruit, chopped nuts, fruit puree or preserves – or nothing at all – for comfort food at its creamy, satisfying best.

Honey Truffle Sponge Pudding Cake with Wild Berries

This old-fashioned pudding cake separates into layers of golden-brown sponge cake atop a creamy, custardy sauce while it bakes. The amazing perfume of honey truffles adds an exotic note, pairing beautifully with the comforting, warm flavor of eggs, butter and milk. The aroma of the truffles permeates the entire dish as it cooks. A sprinkling of wild berries adds a tart counterpoint to the rich, luscious pudding cake. A paper-thin slice or two of the truffle adds an elegant finishing touch to this traditional, home-style dessert.

Ingredients:

  • Softened unsalted butter for greasing the baking dish
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoon (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped honey truffle
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 3/4 cups milk
  • Fresh honey truffle to slice for presentation
  • Fresh wild berries (we used huckleberries, but any fresh berry will do)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.

Combine the sugar, butter and finely chopped truffle in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, 3 – 5 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating the mixture well after each one. Mix the flour, salt and milk in thoroughly and set aside.

In a clean bowl, using the whisk attachment of the electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, but are not dry. Stir a quarter of the beaten eggs whites into the batter to lighten it up. Thoroughly, but gently, fold in the remaining whites with a spatula. Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish.

Place the baking dish into another larger pan, at least 2 inches wider on all sides. Place into the oven and pour enough hot, but not boiling water into the outer pan to come halfway up the side of the inner pan.

Bake until the top is lightly browned and set, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and lift the inner pan out, placing it on a baking rack to cool.

Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled. Garnish with a generous sprinkling of fresh berries and a few shavings of the fresh honey truffles.

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