Connie Green & Sarah Scott's Leg of Lamb with Chanterelle Mushroom Tapenade

The Wild Table is a beautiful book. Split off into seasons, the book captures the mystery and flavors of the endearing activity of foraging. I'm saying it again: I love mushrooms.

Connie Green is the head huntress of Wine Forest Wild Mushrooms. What a title. She supplies great restaurants around the United States, including the French Laundry. In this books, she teams up with Chef Sarah Scott to combine their passions for foraging and cooking.

So I decided to make it a point to cook a few of these recipes every season. So far, I've been financially restrained to using dried chanterelles, but the book also gives some recommendations as to which dried mushrooms are effective and how to prepare them in the most effective way.

I'm also making it a point to save up some money so that I can actually buy the proper ingredients for these recipes. Fresh mushrooms are tough to come around and they're insanely expensive, but one day I'll have the money to do these recipes absolute justice. One day.

On this particular day, I decided to do a lamb recipe. I've never cooked lamb, but I figured this would be a good time to start. I had to improvise a little because I'm still building up my stock of cooking supplies. No roasting rack for this guy, so aluminum foil had to do.

The mushroom tapenade is addictive. Infused with an anchovy, garlic, capers, and lemon, each of these flavors ended up cooperating really well with each other to give the lamb a full-bodied flavor. The lamb was a tad bit on the rarer side, but it still melted in my mouth with the chanterelle tapenade.

The last thing I'll say about this recipe is that the end product accompanies other food really well. As leftovers, the lamb goes really well with eggs for a quick, satisfying breakfast. Think of it like a spin on steak and eggs. One warning, though. When the lamb hits the pan, the tapenade pops, so watch out.