Dinner for a Rainy Autumn Eve

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Braised Leeks,

Mashed Potatoes and Pan Gravy

One of the great things about living in the Pacific Northwest is the abundance of wild foodstuffs you can forage for yourself. I've heard that the Coastal Salish Native Americans had the most sophisticated art forms in North America, due largely to the fact that food is so easy to find here that the tribes had lots of free time to pursue art, storytelling and other non-subsistence activities. Having grown up in the woods and seas of the Coastal NW, I love the abundance of berries, game, edible roots and fungus.

I went mushroom hunting yesterday with my mother, whose depression-era sensibilities make her a natural for finding free food. Chanterelle mushrooms grow wild here but with rapidly expanding housing developments, choice patches are getting few and far between. Mushroom lovers guard their stashes vehemently and I think she had me swear myself to secrecy at least 5 times during the drive to the patch she'd found on a thickly wooded and steep hillside.

After an hour of struggling through spongy loam and slippery rotten logs, we had a respectable haul of about 3 lbs of fresh Chanterelles. We divvied up the stash and I brought them home. It was a grey and drizzly day so a warm autumn meal sounded perfect. What better to go with freshly picked wild forest mushrooms than pork and seasonal vegetable like leeks? I included a standard mashed potato recipe using Yukon Gold potatoes and some fresh chives. It was a fit meal for a cold day.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

There are no photos of the tenderloin cooking because pork tenderloin looks like... well... horse dick. It just didn't translate.

1 Pork Tenderloin
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 Tbsp Flour
2 tsp Whole Coriander Seed
1 tsp Caraway
2 Tbl Thyme
Salt & Pepper
2 Tbl Olive Oil

Marinate the pork in lemon juice for 1/2 hour. Heat oven to 350 degrees and remove the tenderloin from the marinade.

Crush the spices together in a mortar to help release the flavors.

Mix the flour, spices, salt and pepper in a large plastic bag. Toss the tenderloin in the bag and shake to coat with the spiced flour mixture. Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven or other oven-proof pot. Brown the tenderloin on all sides and place the whole pot into the oven to finish, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and loosely tent with foil for 10 minutes to rest, then slice into medallions.

If making gravy and/or mushrooms, keep the pan and drippings hot.

Sautéed Chanterelles

Chanterelles and a lot of other wild mushrooms are delicate and tasty. The best preparation for them is to stay simple and let the flavor of the mushrooms come through.

1 lb Fresh Chanterelles
2 Tbl Butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
Salt & Pepper

The mushrooms should be cooked in 2 separate batches to ensure even cooking. If you're continuing from the Pork Tenderloin recipe, use the same pan that the pork was cooked in - don't wash it. The mushrooms will pick up some of that delicious fatty richness from the pan drippings.

Add 1/2 of the butter and garlic to the pan. Throw in half of the mushrooms, salt and pepper
Cook over medium heat until the mushrooms just begin to soften. Remove the mushrooms to a dish, reserving as much liquid in the pan as possible.

Repeat with the second half of the ingredients.