Mushrooms Arrived
The mushroom container arrived with Gonzalo our mushroom leader. Friends of ours knew of a mushroom container that was being moved from its electrical contractor friends yard. Gonzalo an electrician and accomplished mushroom grower had created a mushroom farm that needed to be moved, and needed to be moved quickly because the electrical yard was moving. We met Gonzalo at the farm and were instantly fans and believers, and what the heck who doesn’t move a 40 foot container into a barn on one weeks notice especially if it comes with a Gonzalo.
Gonzalo who works full time as a commercial electrician in downtown Los Angeles renovating low income hotels for one of the largest non profits, lives in Upland with his wife Liz and two small boys, spends 1-2 days at the ranch creating the most incredible delicious culinary delights. We have never seen such a hardworking human who loves his family more than anything with a passion for mushrooms in every fiber of his being. Everyone who has come to the ranch that has been lucky enough to share time with Gonzalo can’t get enough. Husband has now become his assistant and now we have Chris who comes up several days a week to help supervise and lead us into the mushroom kingdom. They’re excited to have free time (what’s that) to go mushroom hunting in the forest, the ranch being at 5000 ft offers all kinds of mushroom hunting adventures that someday the dream will be to offer to our clients.
Gonzalo, Chris and Husband have brought us blue and yellow oyster, lions mane, and trumpet mushrooms. They are beautiful to look at and amazingly versatile from a culinary view. The health benefits include minerals like selenium, phosphorous, potassium, calcium and zinc, working as antioxidants that help protect cells from damage, keeping bones and teeth healthy. They bring fiber, vitamins, minerals and anti-inflammatory agents and studies are now starting to show they may help to reduce the risk of chronic disease like heart disease and diabetes while boosting immune systems. In studies Lions Mane mushrooms contain special compounds that can stimulate the growth of brain cells: hericenones and erinacines that may help to protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Gonzalo will show up at my door after a harvest with the most beautiful bowl of mushroom and say here you go; all I feel is fear just because I went to culinary school doesn’t give me any mushroom knowledge, I can’t even remember seeing a mushroom and even if I did nothing looked as beautiful as these, oh and did I mention even though husband loves helping growing them doesn’t mean he eats them. By the second or third delivery I was ready to make mushrooms a part of our lives, I found that regardless how beautiful they were they still performed better in a daily diet chopped up. THEY ADD DELIGHT TO ANY DISH, I’ve added them to scrambled eggs, sourdough bread, sauces, pastas, you name it they add the most amazing flavor and most of the time husband doesn’t even know he’s eating them, although he will look up and say there’s mushrooms in this aren’t there, whatever… In a sauce they look like ground beef when chopped up and they are so filling. Our latest creation is Mushroom Coffee, try ordering a batch. Feedback has been very positive some even make cold brew out of it. Use as you do regular grind, if you like your coffee strong add a bit more mushroom coffee to prep, but who knew coffee could only get healthier. Keep a watch out for the upcoming mushroom packs where Gonzalo will set you up to grow your own..
Here's one of our favorite mushroom lasagna recipes.
Mushroom Lasagna
8 Servings
Salt
¾ (12 oz or 340 grams) dried lasagna noodles
1 large clove garlic, (minced) or 2 tsp granulated garlic
4 cups whole milk
¾ cup unsalted butter divided
½ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp pepper
½ tsp nutmeg
1 ½ pounds mushrooms
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
Boil noodles, add salt and 1 tsp olive oil. Cook then drain noodles after noodles drained add 1 tsp olive oil and mix noodles carefully so that noodles are lightly coated.
In saucepan bring milk and garlic to simmer and set aside. In large saucepan melt ½ butter add flour and cook for one minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden sppon. Pour in hot milk a little at a time stirring until combined add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently for 3-5 minutes or until thick set aside.
Prepare mushrooms depending on mushroom type I dice all except very bottom of stem, stem can sometimes be tough hence the dicing, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoon butter over medium in the bottom of noodle saucepan, add half mushrooms and pinches of salt for about 5 min until they are tender, continue to add until mushrooms are all tender, keep tossing to make sure they cook evenly
Spread white sauce in the bottom of 8x12 or 9x13 baking dish, then layer with noodles, then more sauce, mushrooms, grated parmesan, then noodles, sauce, mushrooms, grated parm. Choose how many layers you want, making sure grated parm is on the final layer.
Bake for 45 minutes until top is browned and sauce is bubbly . Let sit at room temperature before serving. You can freeze after dish completely cools…
Mushroom lasagna is very filling…. Try adding different cheeses and seasonings to spice up, change up make it your own…. ENJOY THE JOURNEY