Bumblebee Blog

I didn’t set out to eat that big shiitake mushroom growing in my mushroom patch last night.

But as I pulled off the humidity tent to spritz it with water, the mushroom fell right off. As luck would have it, I was already roasting a turkey breast and making mashed potatoes for dinner, so the instant idea was, yep, mushroom gravy!

More or less, here’s how I make mushroom gravy.

First, you buy a mushroom patch from Gardener’s Supply. You refrigerate the patch for a couple of days and then soak it, totally submerged, for 24 hours. After that, you place the patch under a humidity tent and spritz it with water regularly.

Once you have a great big mushroom, keep watching it and spritzing your patch with water until the mushroom practically jumps off in your hand.

Then you chop up the mushroom with some celery, onion and garlic.

You saute the mushroom, onion, garlic, celery mixture with some butter until everything is nicely browned.

You then add 1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable broth mixed with one tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir this into the gravy until it is thick. Then continue adding the broth a little bit at the time, just mixing it in so that the gray stays nice and thick. Season with salt and pepper. You can also add thyme and marjoram.

Sadly, I do not have a nice photo of the finished gravy because it was already 8:30 at night and everyone was hungry.

(Note to self: If you plan to do a food photo series, get a shot of the finished product.)

I did nibble on the fresh mushrooms prior to cooking and have to say that there is NOTHING like a fresh shiitake mushroom. It was fresh tasting and firm. It didn’t have any of that mushy, musty flavor that you sometimes get with store-bought mushrooms. I am anxiously awaiting more mushrooms. (Hurry up, mushrooms!)

Tomorrow on Bumblebee…

How my brother-in-law can turn a discussion of lawn mowing into a 30-minute rant about the importance of his hair. Here’s Captain, the brother-in-law, with his important hair and Ben, my 16-year-old son, also with his hair–perhaps not as important.

Until then,

Robin

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Filed in: Mushrooms

At the risk of boring you with mushroom tales, I really have to show you this.

This was the mushroom patch two days ago.

Here is the mushroom patch today.

Okay, it’s only ONE mushroom. But it is a very BIG mushroom. It’s now about the size of one of those portobello mushrooms that I buy at the grocery store to put onto burger buns for a quick dinner.

Also, I can see that other little tiny baby mushrooms are starting to sprout. Eventually, this whole mushroom patch is supposed to be absolutely covered in these shiitake mushrooms.

RuthieJ emailed to ask more about the patch.

This is my first time intentionally growing mushrooms. Yes, I have unintentionally grown mushrooms in my lawn and flower beds. But I don’t dare eat those!

The block is apparently compressed sawdust that is embedded with the mushroom spores. When it arrived, I put it in the refrigerator for a couple of days. After that, I soaked it in a huge bucket of water for 24 hours. Since the patch floats, I had to be creative about piling on pots and pans to make sure the whole patch was submerged.

Since then, it’s simply been a matter of misting and keeping the humidity tent in place.

I plan to harvest my single mushroom success shortly. Yummm. Fresh, home-grown mushrooms. Not sure how it will make it into my cooking yet, but don’t be surprised if I keep it all to myself–like the first tomato!

Bonus photos. Cute little dogs!!!!

Poor Sophie is a drama queen after a bath and nestles with her dad for warmth. Her tongue doesn’t fit into her mouth properly.

Sarah excels at cuteness at all times.

Okay, that’s it for today. I am happily chewing through my home to-do list after having been submerged in a boatload of work for the past two months. I feel like a new woman!

Robin

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Filed in: Mushrooms, The Little Darlings (Dogs)