Not a bad fungi hunt today, with a couple of familiar mushrooms and I am chock-a-block! Lol.
The surroundings are starting to look wonderfully lush after a week of sunshine followed by a couple of days of rain.
The woodland is waking up, turning green again.
I knew I’d see something on my fungi hunt. The inky caps always seem to be the first to pop up.
As expected, I found a hare's foot inkcap.
Its cap is very thin and delicate, not substantial at all, which makes it inedible.
The inky gills underneath stained my finger when I touched them; they always impressed me.
Nearby, on a stump, I came across a little troop of inkcaps sprouting from the bark. There weren’t many, but I picked them for that special little taste of the wild, which always makes my hunting feel complete. :)
These are edible when young; the older one is great for making ink.
They can be confused with other inkcaps that contain coprine, a compound that becomes toxic when combined with alcohol. It acts like disulfiram- the drug used to treat alcoholism which can cause severe symptoms like vomiting, sweating, and intense anxiety. Enough to put anyone off drinking alcohol forever!
Credits: Mica Cap/First Natre
The tiny granules on its cap look like mica; it glistens when it catches the light, which makes it fairly easy to identify.
When I got home, I decided to make a simple closed burger with these mica mushrooms.
Closed Burger with Wild Mushroom 🍄
Ingredients (per burger)
1 piece dough (around 70 g) (homemade or shop-bought)
I used homemade, which is 1/8 of 500 grams dough.
1 beef patty (50 g) devided into two.
Caramelized onion
2 to 3 tomato slices
4 cheddar cheese slices or any burger cheese
2 jalapeño slices or more
A few mica cap mushrooms, sautéed
Ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper
Steps:
Press inside ramekin to mould into patties. No salt or spices needed.
And griddle the burger, no oil needed.
Until cooked and brown.
Caramelise the onion.
Prep the Dough:
Place the dough on floured surface and flatten it into a circle around 10 cm
Place it over a small bowl'
Add the Filling:
Layer in the center:
Jalapeño slices, cheese
Beef patty, 25 g
salt & pepper
Caramelized onion
Tomato slices
Ketchup & mustard or burger sauce,
Sautéed mica cap mushrooms
Beef patty 25 g
More Cheese slices
Fold & Seal:
Bring the dough edges over the filling, pinch tightly to close.
Gently lift the filled dome off the ramekin and place on a baking tray.
Brush with beaten egg for shine.
Bake:
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Ahh, the lttle mushy wilted!
Cool & Serve:
Let cool 2 to 3 minutes, then enjoy.
Let's see how it is inside.
The thin yet crusty and fluffy bread encasing a juicy patty and melted cheese. All the other ingredients meld together. It’s got a really balanced taste, and what I love is that everything stays inside, it doesn’t fall off when you eat it, and it’s easier to hold.
Not soggy yet still juicy.
And I got little bursts of the delicious mushroomy flavour of mica cap in a couple of bites, though I wish I had more! Still, it was a lovely treat after my fungi hunt.
Have a lovely day.
Mariah 💕