This post is sponsored by New Seasons Market – my favorite local grocery store. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands who support VK!

It’s my favorite time of year: fall produce season in the Pacific Northwest! I’ve been falling hard for roasted and warming winter squash (lately on an acorn squash kick that I just can’t quit), sweet and delicious root vegetables (such as roasted beets and sweet potatoes in all. of. the. ghee), hearty greens (kale-yeah!), and umami-bursting mushrooms (there are SO many good varieties right now).

Which is why when New Seasons Market, my absolute favorite grocery store local to Oregon and Washington, invited me on a fall mushroom tour with River City Shiitake, I was beyond bursting with excitement. Any time I get to learn about growing practices, meet the people who lovingly grow the food that I’m grateful to consume, and nerd out of mushroom science, I get very excited.

The magic of the mushroom tour? Meeting Mary, the owner of River City Shiitake, and Jeff, the produce buyer for New Seasons Market, both of whom have an immense passion for high quality, delicious, and simply perfect local produce. I was smitten by Jeff’s take on sourcing; he buys what tastes good, as opposed to only focusing on profit and the bottom line. He seeks out organic and local partners and ranks taste as the most critical component of buying produce. Mary’s mushrooms? Pure gold in Paul’s eyes (and mine, too), who has been buying them for years and years. In fact, 90% of Mary’s delicious shiitake mushrooms (and some maitake mushrooms) go to New Seasons Market at roughly 600 pounds a week. Holy mushrooms.

Back to the tour! Located off a few twists and foresty turns from Highway 30, River City Shiitake is a family operation with 5 total employees tucked away in the woods. Mary, a former mycology researcher at OHSU, does quite literally everything in her mushroom-growing process. From creating the bases that the mushrooms grow on (which is made from sawdust, millet, and wheat bran) to sterilizing blocks, inoculating them with mycelium, labeling and organizing them in their various stages of growth, and growing thousands of mushrooms weekly. It takes roughly 16 weeks from inoculation to harvest to grow a shiitake mushroom, and all the while Mary and her team are running the show and producing mushrooms year round. It was an impressive growing operation.

And the best part? Mary’s shiitake mushrooms are so good. Denser, thicker caps, a darker color, a deep umami flavor, and a meatier texture all make Mary’s mushrooms truly special – and so crazy versatile in cooking. I love cooking with shiitakes for their incredible texture and flavor (in soups, stews, chili, eggs, pasta and so much more), and for their health properties.

Shroom Power.

Shiitakes and other mushrooms have been widely studied for their nutrition properties. Roughly 15 ounces of dried shiitake mushrooms contain:
Fiber (2 grams)
Protein (1 gram)
Riboflavin
Niacin
Copper
Vitamin B5
Selenium
Manganese
Vitamin D
Zinc
as well as other trace nutrients.

Shiitake mushrooms have been widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. They are thought to improve circulation, tonify qi and blood, and resolve phlegm. In modern medicine, shiitakes have been studied for their effects on their anti-cancer properties, their antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal effects, ability to improve bone density thanks to vitamin D, and reducing cholesterol. Animal studies show that three compounds (Eritadenine, sterols, and beta glucans) all may play a role in supporting cholesterol-lowering effects.

Shiitakes may also help support the immune system. a 2015 group study of 52 males and females (age 21-41) consumed either 5 or 10 grams of mushrooms daily for 4 weeks. The study found after one month, both groups showed improvement in their immune markers and lowered levels of inflammation.

Nutrition aside, shiitakes are delicious and play really well in a creamy fall risotto. This recipe is bursting with flavor thanks to bright lemon, leeks, fennel, and fresh herbs. Feel free to go a little crazy with your mushroom selection in here! I used a combination of shiitake and maitake mushrooms (which was amazing), but I’ve listed out other delicious options in the risotto recipe below.

Umami mushrooms + kale + leeks and fennel + all of the lemon = a delicious fall risotto ready to tide you over all winter long.

Autumn Mushroom Risotto with Leeks and Fennel

Serves 4-6

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. olive oil or grass-fed butter, divided
1 ½ pounds mushrooms of choice, (such as shiitake, maitake, button, cremini, chanterelle, oyster, or portobello) stems trimmed and chopped
½ tsp. fresh rosemary, finely minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme, finely minced, plus more to garnish
½ tsp. sea salt, plus more to taste
1 medium bulb fennel, stalks discarded and roughly chopped
1 medium sized leek, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced*
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
4 cups broth of choice (vegetable broth, bone broth, etc.)
4 cups lacinato kale, roughly chopped with thick stems removed
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat, add two tablespoons olive oil or butter. Add mushrooms and sauté for 6-10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Add rosemary, thyme, and sea salt. Cook for an additional minute.

2. Remove mushrooms from stock pot and set aside. Bring pot back to burner over medium heat and add the remainder of olive oil or butter. Add fennel, leeks, and garlic. Sauté vegetables until soft, about five minutes. Stir in arborio rice and let toast in the pan for 1-2 minutes. Pour in white wine and allow to reduce.

3. Meanwhile, heat up broth in a separate pot on the stove. Broth should be warm – but not boiling.

4. Add one cup of broth to the rice and bring to a simmer. Allow the rice to soak up all the broth liquid, string every now and then. Repeat this process until all of the broth has been used up.

5. Add mushrooms, chopped kale, lemon zest and lemon juice to risotto and stir well to combine and gently warm for 5 minutes. Taste and season with additional sea salt and black pepper.

6. Serve risotto with fresh thyme and enjoy!

Notes:

*When using leek, chop only the light green and white parts. Compost the reminder of the leek or save for homemade vegetable broth.
*Other delicious topping ideas: a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a drizzle of delicious olive oil – yum!