Bread N' Butter
GARLIC SCAPE FOCACCIA
Garlic can have a tendency to kill yeast so I have begun leaning a bit more to dehydrated garlic scapes, although I have had success with fresh as well.
Keep in mind that most breads require time to rise and will not be ready immediately after making them. Here is a great recipe I have been using lately with great success after only about 5-6 hours:
CHANTERELLE BUTTER
TIP: If the chanterelles are wet / moist from weather conditions, I like to dry them in a basket over night after cleaning before I make the butter. Clean fungi as you pick it - as the fungi dries, the harder it is to clean. When making butter, the less water content, the better.
TIP: This recipe is extremely good with garlic scapes. I put my scapes through a food processor when they are in season, sometimes with fresh herbs, and freeze / dehydrate them. It will still be delicious without them or using regular onion.
Chop chanterelles, garlic and onion very finely, and separately. If using garlic scapes, have those ready and chopped in your food processor. If thyme is fresh, also have this finely chopped with stems picked away.
Dry fry chanterelles until you see water content releasing, then add the onion. A little onion goes a long way - a quarter of quantity of mushroom you have.
Add garlic and thyme and watch that these delicate pieces don’t burn. If using garlic scapes, add them in last just as the garlic becomes fragrant. You don’t want to cook or even brown these much - just releasing some moisture.
Let the mixture cool off the pan in a large bowl. Add room temperature butter to the bowl and mix well.
Take mixture and make a rectangular like blob on parchment paper, then roll that paper tightly, compacting it into a log as best you can.
Refrigerate or freeze. I recommend cutting a chunk off and then freezing the rest, especially for months when chanterelles are no longer available!
PLANTAIN SEED ‘PEANUT BUTTER’
Plantain is growing everywhere and we learned about not picking things that are near sprays, heavy foot traffic, pets etc. I harvest the younger looking seeds and peel them off of their long stem. Once I had about a half a cup I roasted the seeds on a low temp of 200 degrees for about 45 minutes. I was experimenting so I took them out and tasted them until that fresh plant taste was gone and it starts to feel crunchy and bring out a nutty flavour.
Once roasted to my liking, I added it to a grinder and buzzed it gently with nutritional yeast, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Afterward I added it to a mortar and pestle with some ground flax to bring out the flavours.
I eyeballed my butter and tasted it as I added it as I wanted a grainy consistency to resemble peanut butter. Added the warm butter to parchment, rolled it up tightly, refrigerated, and cut when ready.
LOBSTER FUNGUS INFUSED BUTTER
I followed the instructions on this link. I recommend following on Instagram.
GARLIC SCAPE BUTTER
Truly just processed garlic scapes added to butter, rolled up in parchment, chilled and sliced. Can be frozen.