Chanterelles are those beautiful funnel-shaped mushrooms with a meaty texture and a fruity scent. They're a really vibrant egg color. Often the colors are so bright that it's a bit frightening to find an eatable mushroom that color. But even more appealing, chanterelles are among the best sources of vitamin D, a vitamin that aside from the sun, can be hard to come by.

But my favorite aspect of chanterelle mushrooms are the flavor. They are so incredibly delicious and that's why when I saw that Caw Caw Creek in my hometown was now harvesting them, I was thrilled. I wanted them to be front and center in this dish. No sauce should overcome a flavor so tasty. With the help of Justin (my husband), we did the homemade fettuccine with olive oil and parmesan that I made last month. Just leave the zucchini out and replace with the mushrooms. You want to use a simple pasta for this so that it doesn't compete with your somewhat pricey, though well worth it, chanterelles.

Really take care to properly clean the chanterelles to avoid biting down on dirt. Fill a bowl up with water and quickly add the mushrooms. Stir the water with your hands to knock some of the dirt to the bottom of the bowl. Remove from the water and then go through the mushrooms individually and check for hidden dirt under the gills and in the crevices.

My friend Lindsay came over for a Sunday night dinner so we did simple City Roots mixed greens with apples from Gastonia Farms.

INGREDIENTS