' french WILD HARVESTED MUSHROOMS. '

French Forest Mushrooms (Slippery jacks,Cloud ear,Porcini), sugar-cane fed White Oyster Mushrooms on a bed of braised Puy Lentils, garlic aioli, Asparagus fronds & young spears.

 
         The mighty mushroom madness, my love for mycology started a number of years back when we grew our first button mushroom kit at our old rented property, with some great success I might add. The hobby died off when the the kit had stop producing mushrooms and well, to grow mushrooms from kits is just not a sustainable way to grow food. So as the years passed on, we purchased our own house, started a family and over time my knowledge and self-teachings on mycology has grown as well. After getting my hands on some plug spawn I've started growing my own mushrooms (oyster-white, blue, pink, gold, brown) and shitake on different mediums including pasteurised sugar-cane, logs and poplar boards in a mist regulated DIY outdoor grow tent. The white oyster mushrooms you see in this picture are the rewards of a successful Bucket cultured, pasteurised sugar-cane fed, white oyster plug spawn inoculated oyster mushroom fruit body. The other three mushrooms on the plate come from a packet of Dried Forest harvested mushrooms imported from france and were re-constituted for this dish.              
          I prepped this dish starting with the puy lentils common in french cuisine cooking them in simmering salted water until just tender before removing rinsing in cold water and braising in butter,onions and garlic, setting aside to serve. While the lentils were cooking I re-constituted the dried mushrooms, draining them, pat drying before pan frying with the oyster mushrooms in a little butter. I made a traditional aioli by blending egg yolks,garlic, lemon juice, pink salt, cracked pepper, water and olive oil. The asparagus comes from the garden and was blanched quickly in boiling water with a little salt to retain the vibrant green colour of the vegetable.                                                                                          
           To present these mushrooms I first drizzled the aioli over the plate, laying a bed of puy lentil in the middle before placing the mushrooms over the lentil bed and garnishing with the young asparagus spears and fronds with a splash of good quality virgin olive oil.