Lots of chanterelles in sour cream

Despite my complaints about the weather, I brought home so many mushrooms last week that the chanterelle and mushroom pie only consumed a third of them. Chanterelles keep quite well in the fridge, but still there comes a time when a desperate forager has to either find a way to utilise them all or let them perish. Hold on a second, let them perish? Never!

So I got looking on the web for suggestions as to how to cook a large amount of chanterelles. They don't freeze or dry well, as I think I've mentioned before. It didn't take me long to discover this great traditional Russian method. I hesitate to call it a "recipe" as it only has 5 ingredients, but I've always believed that best cooking is simple cooking, so here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1kg of chanterelles
• 1-2 onions
• 200g sour cream
• some olive oil
• salt

Process:

Slice the onions into thin rings. Pour olive oil into a deep frying pan and gently fry the onions until soft. Add the cleaned and washed chanterelles, small ones left whole, large ones halved or quartered. Keep frying, stirring frequently, until all water evaporates. Salt to taste. Transfer the chanterelles to a heavy pot, add sour cream, stir well, bring to boil. Reduce the heat to the minimum and cook under lid for 20 minutes.

The result can be served with rice as a dish in its own right or as garnish to meatballs or steak. This is how they dealt with bumper crop of chanterelles in ancient Russia. I suspect that for the final stage they used a proper wood-fired Russian oven, but even on a conventional gas top the result is great. Enjoy!