Читать книгу Beyond Delicious: The Ghost Whisperer's Cookbook - Mary Ann Winkowski - Страница 19

CARL WAS A MUSHROOM HUNTER. He picked mushrooms as a hobby—not to examine them, but to eat them. My parents used to do that, too, but it’s not a hobby you can take lightly. When it comes to mushrooms, you really have to know what you’re doing and you have to be really careful. If you pick the wrong mushrooms—and they may even look like the “right” mushrooms to pick—you can end up violently sick, or worse, dead.

Carl was an avid mushroom-picker, and the best time to go out was in autumn, when it was cold and rainy. Carl would go out with a group of fellow pickers and his wife, and they’d come back with baskets full of mushrooms, which they’d clean, can, and freeze. One October there was a new guy in the group, someone Carl had never seen before. In fact, no one seemed to know him, which wasn’t that strange since they publicized their outings at the library.

The new guy settled right in with them and seemed to know quite a bit about mushrooms. At one point, he stopped them to pick a group of mushrooms none of the others recognized. They asked him about them, and he assured everyone they were delicious and perfect for canning because they had a good, strong flavor. Carl picked some, as did another guy, but most of the group, not knowing the variety themselves, passed.

That had been October. When Carl called me in May, he said things hadn’t been right in his house since then.

“Did you eat the mushrooms?” I wondered.

“No. That’s one of the odd things,” Carl replied. “We fried a couple and tried them, and they did have a good flavor, so we canned the rest. Neither of us got sick or felt the least bit bad, so we didn’t think any more of it. But come December, there was this absolutely horrible smell coming from the basement. Turns out those mushrooms had popped the cans and were completely rotten, so we threw them out.”

Carl did have a ghost in the house. He was a rugged, outdoorsy-looking man with a full beard and a knowing twinkle in his eyes. He nodded slowly at me and said, “I did that.”

“You ruined the mushrooms?” I checked.

“I popped the cans. Those mushrooms were poisonous,” he said evenly. “I also ruined that other fella’s cans. But I can’t find the last guy to ruin his.”

“Carl, did anyone else say those mushrooms went off?” I asked him.

“Yes!” Carl answered. “The same exact thing happened to the other guy who picked them!”

“The guy who told you about them?”

“No, no—he never came back to the group. The other guy who picked them that day, from our regular group.”

“Oh,” I looked back over at the ghost. “And how do you know they were poison?”

“I picked mushrooms, too,” he said. “That’s my land they were on. I don’t mind them out there foraging, but I won’t let anyone hunt. Those hunters come out there, I scare off everything they try to shoot at! Oh, and they don’t know how to cook mushrooms right.”

“Okay,” I said evenly and relayed the critique to Carl.

“That’s ridiculous!” Carl protested. “I know every recipe there is!”

“No you don’t,” the ghost said with a grin, and proceeded to give me a recipe for mushroom patties!

“So you came home with Carl because of the mushrooms?” I wondered once he was done giving me the recipe.

“That’s right. Those mushrooms were bad. I just wish I could find that other guy ….”

Carl had no idea how to get in touch with him, though, so I asked the ghost if he was ready to move on. I was shocked when he said no, more so because his tone was not at all argumentative, just very matter-of-fact.

“I wasn’t a religious man,” he explained. “And I enjoy walking the earth.”

“Well, you won’t be able to come back here once I leave,” I warned him. He just smiled and winked.

“That’s okay—I’ll see him when he’s out picking mushrooms!”

Mushroom Patties

1 medium onion, grated

Butter for frying

1 pound mushrooms

2 white rolls, moistened in milk and mashed

2 whole eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Breadcrumbs for rolling

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash, clean, and chop mushroom caps and stems. Cook grated onion in a little butter, and when onion begins to brown, add the mushrooms. Season and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes. Mix thoroughly with mashed rolls, eggs, and parsley, and shape into patties. Roll in breadcrumbs and fry in hot butter to a golden brown. Serves 4. Serve with panfried potatoes.