Mushroom Dirt Food

SPRING SALAD WITH MUSHROOM ''DIRT''

Steps:

• For the salad: Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Prepare an ice-water bath and set aside. Add fava beans to boiling water and cook until crisp-tender; drain and transfer to ice-water bath to cool. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Repeat process with fiddleheads and carrots. Repeat process with snap peas; when snap peas have cooled, trim ends and slice open. Transfer fiddleheads, carrots, and snap peas to bowl with fava beans. Add radishes and golden beets; set aside.
• Prepare an ice-water bath. Place morels in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover; stir and remove morels from water; repeat process, changing water, until water runs clean. Transfer morels to a medium nonreactive bowl. Place sherry-wine vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, pickling spice, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Strain vinegar mixture over morels and set bowl in ice-water bath to cool. Remove from ice-water bath and cover until ready to use.
• Prepare an ice-water bath. In a medium saucepan, toast coriander, bay leaves, and pepper over low heat. Add wine and cook until reduced by half. Add vegetable stock, olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, and asparagus; place a parchment paper round over asparagus to keep submerged. Bring to a simmer and cook until asparagus is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and place saucepan directly in ice-water bath; let asparagus cool in liquid. When asparagus has cooled, cut each into 4 equal pieces; return asparagus pieces to cooking liquid and set aside.
• Make the zucchini marmalade: Place squash, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over low heat; cook, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
• Make the elderflower vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, and elderflower cordial; season with salt and set aside.
• To serve: Place a spoonful of mushroom "dirt" down the center of each of 4 rectangular serving plates. Add morels and asparagus to bowl with vegetables; drizzle with elderflower vinaigrette and toss to combine. Divide vegetable mixture evenly among plates; garnish each with a fennel chip. Garnish each plate with a dollop of marmalade; add herbs, flowers, and lettuces and serve.

MUSHROOM ''DIRT''

Steps:

• Place mushroom pieces on the tray of a dehydrator with enough room to allow for generous airflow between pieces. Dehydrate, according to manufacturer's directions, at 135 degrees for 12 hours, occasionally rotating trays from top to bottom.
• Transfer dehydrated mushrooms to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
• Place ground mushrooms, both flours, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and porcini powder in the jar of a blender; blend until a powder is formed, about 2 minutes. Sift mushroom mixture into a medium bowl; set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, melt butter with walnut oil over medium heat; whisk to combine. Whisk butter mixture into mushroom mixture; spread on prepared baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake for 5 minutes; rotate baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

DIRTY RICE WITH MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium. Add onion, celery and bell pepper, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and their liquid is absorbed, 5 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, 1 minute.
• Add rice, Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Stir until well blended, then add broth, scraping bottom of pot to remove any browned bits. Bring to a boil over high heat.
• Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Scatter black-eyed peas on top in an even layer, cover and cook 3 minutes longer. Turn off heat.
• Add scallions to the pot, and fluff rice with a fork. Divide among bowls and garnish with more scallions. Serve with hot sauce.