Steemit Iron Chef #13 - Orange-glazed Arkansas Wild Cat Steaks and Orange Salad - with Wild Nuts and Weeds
I've been eating cats while staying with my parents in rural Arkansas. Cats? Yes! The great Swollen-stalked Cat mushroom, Catethelasma ventricosa. Come into my post for a forest-to-table feast foraged from their Arkansas homestead, featuring this week's Steemit Iron Chef ingredient -- oranges!
Gathering Cats from an Arkansas Forest
My parents live in the middle of a mixed pine and hardwood forest in north-central Arkansas. They like to eat the wild food around them, just like me. Every autumn, they look forward to gathering Swollen-stalked Cats -- a large, sturdy, and tasty wild mushroom. The mushrooms pop up through the needle-covered forest floor every autumn. Even when it's been dry, like this year.
Gathering Nuts and Weeds
My parents' homestead has other wild treats, too. There is a small American Chestnut shrub. It's nothing compared to the large Chestnut trees that dominated the region before Chestnut blight decimated them decades ago. But their scrubby shrub still produces a good crop most years.
And there are lots of Black Walnut trees, too. I like their strong flavor better than English walnuts. But they are hard to crack and it takes real skill to extract their potent nuts in large pieces.
I gathered some common weeds from their yard, too. Wild chives are everywhere in any open grass, all winter long. Lemon balm is an invasive garden escape artist, just like in Oregon. And there was a little Chickweed, too. That's enough for a great lunch!
A Forest-to-Table Feast!
My salad was easy to make. I just finely chopped the chives and lemon balm and mixed that with thin slices of fresh orange. After marinating for about an hour, I laid the oranges on a bed of tender chickweed and topped it all with black walnut pieces. My mom loved this salad! Well, so did everyone, lol.
The wild cat steaks were easy to make, too. I sauteed them in butter until they were well-cooked, all the way through. Compared to other mushrooms, these cats don't lose much water or size when they are cooked. Then I squeezed in the juice and pulp of an orange, and added crumbled-up roasted chestnuts, with a little more butter. I cooked all that until the orange juice turned into a lightly carmelized glaze.
We had big mess of these mushroom steaks and orange salad for lunch. It was a big hit with my parents! But I will admit that these Cat mushrooms are good to eat so many different ways -- and they are always delicious.
What Do You Think?
- Do you like oranges in salads?
- Have you ever found or eaten any Catethelasma mushrooms?
- Do you forage for any mushrooms?
- Would you eat my wild cat steaks and orange weed salad?
I eat a lot of wild plants and show you how, because I believe that we can all have lives that are richer, more secure, more grounded, and more interesting by getting to know the plants and the land around us – in our yards, our parks, and our wild places.
I would like Steemit to be the premier site for Foraging on the Internet! If you have any thoughts about foraging, or experiences to share, write a post and be sure to use the Foraging tag. And check out the @foraging-trail to see curated quality posts about foraging. Happy Foraging!
Thanks @progressivechef for creating the Steemit Iron Chef contest series!
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Plant List
- Swollen-stalked Cat mushrooms - Catethelasma ventricosa
- American chestnut - Castanea dentata - nuts
- Black walnut - Juglans nigra - nuts
- Wild chives - Allium schoenoprasum - leaves
- Chickweed - Stellaria media - tender leaves and stems
- Lemon balm - Melissa officianalis - tender leaves
- Oranges - Citrus × sinensis - fruit
I've never had cat mushrooms before my friend, but i really want to taste it after looking at your salivating entry!
Wonderful looking and deliciousely sounding dish... always I learn and discover new ingredients from you !
Thanks, @globaldoodlegems! There are so many different plants and mushrooms out there to eat -- just waiting for us to get to know them. The only ingredients from the store were the oranges and the butter. But these Cat mushrooms would sell well at a store, I think -- they are so big and sturdy.
That looks scrumptious, @haphazard-hstead! I would definitely add this to my personal menu. YUM.
Yes, I love oranges in my salad. Sometimes I throw in grapefruit or strawberries too. Actually, I like to throw in just about any kind of fruit on a salad. :)
I have never found or eaten any Catethelasma mushrooms. I'm amazed at the size! Surely one is enough for several meals from the looks of it!
No, I do not forage my own mushrooms. I'm afraid of poisoning myself. LOL BUT - I'm in my new home and guess what I'll be doing this spring? Gardening! And maybe a mushroom log or two happiness!
Thanks, @merej99! Congratulations on your move to your new place. How exciting! It will be fun to see your new garden and other home projects -- mushroom logs included! :D
I hope you do find one of these Catethelasma mushrooms sometime. They are some of the biggest and sturdiest mushrooms around. We've picked dozens over the past week and a half. If it would rain again, there could be more, even into the New Year. They are a neat mushroom.
Your food always looks the best! That red plate was a great choice for this meal, too. Now I can't say I have ever eaten mushroom and citrus together in the same dish. The way you've prepared them together looks really appetizing. What advice do you have for someone who has very minimal foraging experience? Read a book? Research? I am afraid I'd make a false ID of some plant and not realize it until ____. You have a lifetime of foraging experience, please guide me! ☺
Thanks, @enternamehere! My mom has a big set of those red dishes. It's been her fancy set for years. It was fun to be able to use one of her plates for this post.
One good way to start is by listing the plants that you already know how to identify, rock solid. THen find out which ones are good to eat. Getting started with trees is good, too, because it's harder to mess up with them. There's a lot to say about getting started foraging. I'll be spinning up a project soon that I hope you will find helpful.
Oh, excellent, that's good to hear about your upcoming project. And thank you so much for the guidance on how to start foraging! Brushing up on my plant identifying skills will be a great place to incorporate my love for drawing too. Thanks again ☺
In the first paragraph of your post i feel fear because i never eat cat, sounds very extrange, but it is an wild mushroom sound better than eat a cat.
But some uncle in the past the history say he ate a cat and he said it look like a rabits.
Well good tasted in your mushroom wild cat.
And salad oranges.
By the way i see the jerusalen artichoques flowers similar but it is very hard tree and i needed a tools strong for see if in the soil the potatoes exist the next time i carry the tools.
Best regard @galberto
I am glad that my food was a mushroom, too! That's interesting about your past uncle, and that his story has been passed down to you. But I don't think I will ever eat that kind of cat. Good luck in checking your jerusalem artichokes!
Well, if you put it that way, I’d love to eat cats too! Wish I could get some. And you plated so elegantly. Another winner!