Katriina's forage for a feast
Katriina Mueller, her husband Nick Mueller and their son Seb (12), recently moved from inner Sydney to her grandmother’s former home in Macquarie because they had a desperate need for a change of lifestyle and a life with chickens.
The hens, four hi-lines, were purchased on February 16. They have a large coop but also peck around the garden especially to turn and enrich the soil in three garden plots being prepared for vegetable planting.
Katriina’s mother, Marita was born in Finland and the family came to Australia in the early 1960s. It was the partner of Marita’s brother Erik Jusula, Jenny Clark of O’Connor who introduced us to Katriina. Jenny recalls foraging with Katriina’s grandmother, Hillka, in the then pine forest at Mt Stromlo. They would pick big orange-gilled mushrooms which Jenny says were so fragrant and meaty and Hillka would serve spiced grilled mushrooms at home. Katriina remembers parties in her nana’s house.
Katriina is a makeup artist who studied beauty and special effects for two years full time at 3 Arts, the Art and Technology of Make Up College in Chippendale (see her website blondie.com.au).
However it is her other business, run with partner Izabella (Bella) Hyde, which led me to her.
Finding Feasts started its fungi foraging excursions in 2011. Bella lived in Poland until she was seven years old and was taught by her parents how to identify fungi that was safe to eat. It was Bella’s parents in Sydney who taught Katriina about mushrooms. She says that, with Slippery Jacks, they change colour as they develop, from pale to darker with a better flavour later. They do not have gills but are spongy underneath. With Saffron Milk Caps (or pine mushrooms), they bleed saffron colour when harvested. No one should harvest mushrooms unless they are experienced in identification.
The past couple of years have been so dry that harvesting a few pine mushrooms for dinner is fine but useless for taking tours out, trying to show them the joys of foraging with no mushrooms to bring back. On good years, lunch of sliced Saffron Milk Caps are cooked up with salt, pepper and butter, over high heat on a burner and participants, mostly foodies, contribute to the lunch and bring tea and coffee.
Finding Feasts tours are in autumn in pine forests at Oberon and the Southern Highlands in NSW. The latter is most popular as it is only a three-hour drive for both Canberrans and Sydneysiders. This season people have been begging to go. The main age group is in their 20s and 30s but many want to bring their parents.
On the June long weekend, Katriina and Bella and their families went on a final forage for this season. It was a great day and they harvested a good amount of Saffrons and Slipperys to prep for dehydrating and freezing.
In Macquarie, Katriina showed me a large basket of Saffrons. They lose colour and flavour when dried so are best eaten fresh. The Slippery Jacks had the brown skin on top taken off, were sliced and placed in a dehydrator overnight at 105 degrees, a little longer than usual as they were wet, having been picked in rain. When dried, they are powdered for cooking.
Katriina has shared the recipe for a traditional Finnish stew or hot pot from Karelia, a fought-over area of Finland. She says this would have been a meal to feed an army and her grandpa, Lassi, had served in the army.
Karjalan Paisti (Karelian stew)
350g pork neck
350g mutton
350g beef chuck steak
a little oil
3 onions, sliced
20g dried slippery jack mushrooms (use 200g of fresh mushrooms, a mix of Swiss browns and buttons, if unable to get dried mushrooms)
4 bay leaves
8 allspice berries
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
To serve:
lingonberry jam
1 dill pickle per person
mashed potato
Rehydrate the dried slippery jack mushrooms by placing them into a heat safe bowl and pouring 200ml boiling water over them. Leave aside to soften. If you are using fresh mushrooms then roughly chop and set aside. Cut the meat into large portions (if too small it will break up in the stew). Start browning the meat in small batches in the oil (wear an apron!) Remove dried mushrooms from the stock, without disturbing the small amount of dirt on the bottom of the bowl, and roughly chop. Scatter the browned meat into a casserole dish or pressure cooker as you go, then layer with some of the onions, some chopped mushrooms, some allspice berries and a bay leaf. Continue layering until all the ingredients are in the pot or casserole. Add salt and pepper. Pour in 3 cups of water and the slippery jack stock (not the bits on boytom of bowl), then cook for 40 minutes in pressure cooker or 2-3 hours in the oven at 160C or until meat is completely tender. Once cooked remove the meat and set aside, bring the liquid to a boil and leave to simmer uncovered until the sauce has reduced and thickened. Add the meat again. Serve over some mashed potato with the lingonberry jam and quartered pickles.