FLORA FORAGER RECIPES

Steps:

• Finely chop the mushrooms by hand, or pulse the mushrooms in a food processor until they're finely chopped, but be careful not to over-process them. Traditionally you would chop them by hand, and it will give the best texture.
• Heat a large saute pan with the oil. Heat the pan until hot and nearly smoking, then add the mushrooms and shallots, and stir to coat with the oil. Cook for a minute or two, stirring occasionally.
• Add the salt, pepper and the herbs. Continue to cook, lowering the heat to medium to prevent scorching. Cook the mixture for ten minutes, until the mushrooms have given up their water and the pan starts to look dry.
• Deglaze the pan with the sherry or wine, then cook off the liquid again until the pan is dry, stirring the pan to coat the mushrooms with the juices. From here, if you like the flavor, you can cool the duxelles and refrigerate them for a few days, or freeze right away for later. If the duxelles taste mild to you, as may happen if you're making a large batch, proceed to drying them out in the oven.
• Drying/roasting the duxelles to finish (optional)

Steps:

• Chop the meat, whatever type you are using, and chill it well, you can even place it in the freezer for 10 min, the colder the better.
• Place the bread in a bowl and cover with the cream. Make sure it is saturated well with the cream. (This is a great use for old, crusty stale bread that is too hard to eat, and is most likely what was used in historical forcemeats, as nothing was wasted)
• When the meat is well chilled, place it in the bowl of a food processor and add the bread soaked in cream, squeezing the cream out into a separate container.
• Begin pureeing the meat by pulsing the food processor, adding the soaked bread, garlic, pepper, nutmeg and the salt.
• When the mixture is coming together and looks like paste, turn the food processor onto the continuous cycle and start drizzling in cream until the mixture is fluffy, light in color, and you can see no chunks of meat left. You may need to scrape down the sides of the food processor to incorporate all the meat.
• Cook a small piece to test the flavor, adjust as needed, then refrigerate in an air tight container until needed.