One Local Summer Challenge - Week 3

This week's One Local Summer challenge really took me out of my comfort zone. First of all, why does it have to rain every Wednesday during the farmer's market? Ha! I took the bus into town, got off at the Hill and walked down to the Boulder Farmer's Market. They were just opening so all of the veggies were being put out and everyone was walking around in the light rain. I wanted to try something new this time, so I have no one to blame but myself. At the grocery, I had picked up a package of pork chops from Coleman natural meats out of Golden, CO, I wanted something to compliment the meat and was thinking of a salad. However, I always tend to lean towards 'easy' and as I walked around the farmer's market I found these:



They are called garlic curlies and they are harvested right before the garlic is. They grow out the top of a garlic and are just plucked out. Heck, they were only $1 for a bag, which was about two handfuls. I asked the lady how to cook with them and she said to chop them like they are chives and throw into stir fry or pasta or salads, whatever you would like them in. She said one goes a long way because they are super pungent. Here is a sign they had up:


As I was walking through the market, I saw a mushroom sign for Hazel Dell Mushrooms on of Ft. Collins, CO, they had a both up this past weekend at the Louisville Farmer's market, but I was too scared to buy them. I was scared because I usually only buy the button mushrooms at the store and when I have exotic (ok, what I consider to be exotic) mushrooms, they are usually shittakes at the local Chinese restaurant. I went over to the both yesterday and the attendant was not very friendly, but the shrooms looked yummy and interesting. I wanted to ask him how to cut and cook them, but he wasn't into answering any questions (typical Boulderite to me). The lady in front of me said just slice 'em up, throw them in the skillet with butter, and enjoy. Ok, since the shrooms were $12 a pound (GASP!), I took the half pound grab bag for $5. I took that home, opened it up and this is what I got:


Not a good picture because the lighting in my kitchen is crap. The first thing I thought was "WHAT THE?" Maybe I shouldn't have gone with the 'grab bag' and stuck with the shittakes. Since the mushroom stand attendant was unresponsive, I never found out what really was in the grab bag. I did some research online and found out that I had a mix of oyster, lion's mane, shittakes and a shroom I had no idea what it was:


What the heck are these called? I have looked everywhere and couldn't find them on any edible mushroom website. I held off on cooking them last night with all the other mushrooms because I wasn't sure how hubby and I would react to the other three I was cooking up together with a few garlic curlies. Plus, how could I cut up and eat something that looks like a Smurf Village? I'm thinking of stir frying them with chicken and soy sauce tonight for dinner, but then again, what if they are magic and we end up taking a trip into the light fantastic! Ha!

Here's the end result of the third week of One Local Summer: Pork chop with stir fried shrooms with garlic curlies. It was definitely a tasty meal and the mushrooms were worth the splurge!