By far my favourite mushroom is the Chanterelle or “Kurki” as it is known in Polish. A perfect balance of sweetness and “funginess” it is the perfect ingredient in a cream sauce.
Though I have made my opinions widely known Canada is completely devoid of choice when it comes to mushrooms and arguably many Canadians only know of the button or Cremini mushroom. Contrast this with Europe where I could purchase 200g boxes of Chanterelle at popular chain supermarkets (Biedronka in Poland).
This is not to say that we do not have good mushroom selection in Canada. I have been able to find good selections at my local farmers where they regularly have morel and infrequently chanterelle but the issue is that these mushrooms are older as it appears they have travelled across the country. I have had conversations with them as their products were visibly wilted compared to fresher product pictured below but nevertheless it is not easy to source mushrooms in this country/province.
All that aside my family was able to find some fresh Chanterelle mushrooms and so I was able to take on this opportunity and make a beloved cream of Chanterelle mushroom sauce with fresh pasta. I added a bit of hunter sausage to this to make it a more “wild” pasta with foraged mushrooms but all in all it played a perfect balance and the end product was divine for as long as the supply lasted.
