So I have this amazing neighbor whom also has a good friend that is a chef and knows her mushrooms…  if I didn’t I would have NEVER tried one.  Mushrooms are not to be taken lightly…

But our neighbor brought us over a giant Puffball mushroom last weekend.   Her and I spend the weekend googling and trading cooking ideas and mushroom itself. 

So the conditions have to be quite perfect for a puffball to grow.  Lots of rain and thus moisture for a few days, warm… and they only are out for a few days.  Once they become porous the puffball mushroom can make you sick.  ONLY eat pure white puffballs.  If you aren’t sure of what you are doing, and do not have anyone close to you that you trust that does know their mushrooms… please do NOT eat mushrooms you find in the woods!

The first night she taught me how to peel it.  VERY easy to do so and then it makes it easier to check for bugs.  Yes I said bugs… this thing grows on the forest floor folks… so ya know.  If you do have a spot or two, just cut them out like you do a worm hole on an apple or a eye on a potato.  The rest of the mushroom is still good!

After it was peeled we cut it in half and said G’night😊  I went back into the house and cubed a small portion of it.  Would have been maybe 2 cups cut into roughly one inch by one inch cubes – and then I sautéed it with Tuscan infused olive oil until it was lightly brown.  Reminded me of tofu to an extent… or like a cheese curd type consistency.   It was very good.

The next night – the adventure continued with our wonderful neighbor bringing over some noodle / puffball / spicy sausage like dish. She made a sauce with a few types of mushrooms that reminded me almost of a stroganoff sauce but not as think & chunky. I believe she sprinkled like a cilantro with a few other seasonings on the end dish as well.

We invited her over Sunday and grilled large slices of the puffball almost steak style… I brushed on a two different oil/balsamic combinations.  One was the Tuscan oil again.   The puffball really reallysoaks it in fast, so you have to brush (I used a silicone grill/BBQ type brush) as you pour so it gets more evenly distributed.  These were great.  Even the Fake Hubby’s two dude friends tried it and said it was good.  The White Winer of our circle of friends also enjoyed them and I sent some of the remaining raw mushroom home with her for her own  puffball adventures – vegetarian edition.

That week or two there was very interesting! Something different, quite delicious, and even better I was able to reminisce with GmaG.  My grandmother used to eat puff ball mushrooms a lot in her youth, and she didn’t know people still found them /ate them.

Amazing that Just a puffball brought so much excitement to me, just Runt.