Muskie a la Wine Cap?

One day last week a shy, retiring gentleman–OK, a guy who does not like to have his picture taken–brought Kathy Windiate a nice offering of his fine cultivated Wine Cap Mushrooms (Stopharia rugosa-annulata). I thought you’d like to see them.  They were enormous.

When I was googling for more information about Wine Caps, I happened upon Last One Eating, a blog by Ann Arbor cooking instructor Brian Steinberg.  He challenged himself to produce meals using local foods at a cost of $3-5 per serving. Wuff, I thought, Ann Arbor is an expensive place. I think I can find ways to do better than that–but not by myself.

So here’s the deal. I know there are a lot of good cooks who read Torch Lake Views, and I know there are a lot of good growers who read Torch Lake Views, and I know that they are sometimes the same people. I challenge all of you to send me ideas for meals that use local foods to best advantage, and we’ll see what we come up with.

“Local foods” means anything that grows around here, wild or cultivated, organic or with the help of integrated pest management, for carnivores or vegans–I’m interested in connecting local producers and local consumers in a tasty way without imposing a whole lot of conditions on the process. Now I’m going to go look for a recipe for muskie.