Maitake Stew

Introduction

We were excited the other day when we found a large cluster of maitake mushrooms right by our house! We harvested a lot of maitake so we will be using them in several different recipes. One of my favorite things to make is a simple, but delicious maitake stew. This recipe is very versatile and you can substitute many of the ingredients to suit your preferences. I used whatever I had on hand at the time. 

Ingredients

4 cups of fresh maitake mushrooms

1 cup of chopped carrots

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

3-4 chopped potatoes (you can use any kind, I used red and russet potatoes)

6 cups of broth or water

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Oregano

Cayenne pepper 

Thyme

Fresh parsley 

Directions

1. Heat some olive oil in a pot before adding in carrots, onion, celery, and potatoes. Add salt and pepper and let cook with lid on for about 10 minutes or until potatoes start to soften.
2. Add in maitake mushrooms and let cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add in broth or water and bring to a boil.
4. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and add in spices.
5. Let simmer for about 1 hour.
6. Towards end of cooking, add in chopped fresh parsley.