| Mushroom
Tasting Menu
|
Todd’s
Passion
My passion for mushrooms and truffles began a few years ago back
in New York while I was working for Gray Kunz at the St. Regis Hotel.
As Sous Chef, I prepared dishes inspired by the forest, from a simple
risotto with wild mushrooms and tomato coulis to a refined ragout
of black winter truffles with salsify and chervil. It was there
that I was introduced to hunting mushrooms in the woods of the Hudson
Valley, with other New York chefs. My love of foraging had begun.
My journey continued when my wife and I later moved to San Francisco
where I took the position as Chef of the Campton Place Hotel. In
California, we are lucky to have an abundance of wild and cultivated
mushrooms year round. It was at Campton where I met Connie Green
of Wine Forest Mushrooms and she gave me the opportunity to continue
my love of hunting fungi. Connie invited us on Chef forays- organized
mushroom hunts- where we met our good friend Patrick Hamilton who
has become my mushroom mentor. With their influence, knowledge,
and willingness to share some secret hunting places, my passion
for mushrooms and hunting continues to gain momentum.
Here in the Napa Valley and toward the Coast, when the first of
the season begins, I get this urge to head for the woods to forage.
Fall brings the first porcini where I first find their location
based on the previous year’s hunt. As December rolls in, Matsutake
hide underground, waiting to reveal themselves as little bumps in
the ground. The season continues with white truffles, then candy
caps, black trumpets, yellow food and hedge hogs. All of these make
my winter menus outstanding while waiting for Spring. It’s
like a hidden secret when you return each year to spots where you
know they grow and create a menu from them!
The feeling of foraging and finding mushrooms is exciting to me.
We go out as a family, bringing along our “wee lads”
and sharing the adventures with them. We teach them to respect the
forest and what it gives to us by carefully taking only what we
will use and leaving the rest peacefully behind. We tell our sons
that mushrooms are the treasures Mother Nature provides for us,
and it’s our privilege to find them and prepare them lovingly!
It is in this spirit that I hope you will enjoy my passion form
mushrooms in my menus at Martini House. |
