Meadow Mushroom Biscuits and Gravy

I am big on foraging for food, foraging saves money as well as it sharpens your survival skills. Biscuits and gravy is a southern breakfast favorite, however making it with wild mushrooms is my own twist on this breakfast favorite. I like to serve them with a small salad and fried potatoes on the side.

Meadow Mushroom or Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) is a widely eaten mushroom closely related to the cultivated Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus). However this recipe can be used with any store bought or wild mushroom.

Mushroom Gravy Ingredients:

1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms

2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ cup diced white or yellow onion

1 pinch each salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 Tbsp corn starch

1 cup vegetable broth

Quick Biscuits Ingredients:

½ cup cold vegetable shortening, margarine, or butter.

2 cups all purpose flour plus a little extra for kneading.

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¾ cup cold almond or whole milk.

Mushroom Supplies:

Bag and a knife for harvesting mushrooms.

Small Sieve or a Sifter.

Colander or Large Sieve

Cutting Board

Dicer or Sharp Knife

Measuring Cup

Measuring Spoons

Frying pan

Spatula

Biscuit Supplies:

Large bowl

Pastry cutter

2½ inch Cookie cutter

Measuring spoons

Measuring cup

Kneading board

Baking sheet

Cooling rack

There is no cut and dried time for harvesting wild mushrooms however I find late summer to early fall, after a rain is best for finding wild mushrooms. The best place to find Meadow mushrooms is harvested, groomed, or grazed, fields and meadows.

Meadow mushrooms are a white mushroom with pink or beige gills. Older meadow mushrooms the gills will darken to brown in color. Meadow mushrooms can be spotted at a distance or in taller grass by the mycelium network, (Mushroom roots). The mycelium network breaks up the organic materials in the soil feeding the plants and grasses near them making the grasses greener, they often forming Fairy circles.

I always wash wild mushrooms even after a rain, you never know what may have defecated on them before you picked them. 

WARNING

Never pic wild plants and mushrooms unless you know what they are.

Never pic wild plants and mushrooms where pesticides are used.

Young meadow mushrooms can look like puff balls which are edible.

However so do young DEATH CAPS and DESTROYING ANGELS look like puff balls and THEY WILL KILL YOU. So cut what looks like a puff ball open and make sure the gills are pink or beige and NOT WHITE.

The gravy should not take any more time to make, than the biscuits take to bake, so prepare your favorite biscuits and sides first.

Preheat oven to 450° F or 205° C.

To a large bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and mix well.

Using the pastry cutter, cut in the cold vegetable shortening until dough is crumbly.

Stir in cold milk until dough leaves sides of the bowl, (Dough should be soft and sticky.)

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead the dough lightly and roll or pat out to ½ inch thick.

Cut with a floured 2½ inch cookie cutter. (The second cut can have a different texture so I like to divide up the dough into 12 equal parts and knead them into biscuits.)

Place dough on a lightly floured baking sheet about 1 inch apart for crispy sides or just touching for soft sides.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot or remove from the baking sheet and let cool on a rack.

Finely dice the mushrooms, garlic, and onions.

Add butter or olive oil to a cast iron skillet or large saucepan over medium heat.

Then add mushrooms, garlic, and onion, to the skillet and season with a healthy pinch each salt and pepper.

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Slightly reduce the heat on the skillet and add flour through a sieve or sifter stirring to coat for about 1 minute.

Add corn starch through a sieve or sifter stirring to coat for about 1 minute.

Slowly stir while adding vegetable broth a little at a time until it is the desired thickness. The gravy will continue thickening as it cooks.

Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Keep the gravy on low until you’re ready to serve.

Add more vegetable broth as needed if the gravy gets too thick.

Split the biscuits and top with gravy.