Cooking Slippery Jacks in the Solea

This winter in the Bay Area was an amazing time for gathering wild mushrooms. Some of them are so tasty with such a delicate flavor, keeping the recipe simple is the best bet. Today I made a dish in my 2.4 quart Solea Casserole pot using Short Stemmed Slippery Jack mushrooms. These are a form of Boletes, like the famed Porcinis. Instead of having gills they have a spongy texture to the cap which melts in your mouth like a divine scallop. You can see in the picture below what I added to the pot.

About 2 cups of Short Stemmed Slippery Jack mushrooms

about half a cup of onions

a handful of garlic

First I heated the Solea Casserole pot to medium (cooking next to some chicken curry) and added a dollop of olive oil. Into the hot oil I put the chopped garlic. As the garlic toasted, I added the mushrooms and onions. Sometimes I will add the onions first, but I had cut the mushrooms in large chunks so together so they would cook evenly. After about 10 minutes of cooking and stirring I added some salt and it was ready to go!

They were truly delicious. This is the basic recipe that I use whenever I gather a new type of mushroom that I want to try, rather than have the flavor masked by too many ingredients. The garlic is essential to bringing out the flavor of mushrooms. The Solea Casserole pot was the perfect fit for this dish. The handles never got too hot which is a bonus when cooking on a crowded stove top. Even on the gas stove, it cooked evenly with no gumming-up of the pan so it was easy to clean.