Our subarctic rainforest hides a treasure trove of wild mushrooms. End of season “catches” include yellow foot chanterelles, hedgehogs, and angel wings. After several experiments, we’ve determined that our catch keeps best individually quality frozen (IQF) and then loosely kept frozen in jars until needed in the kitchen.

Late summer and early fall are bustling times for us as we head out to forage remaining berries and mushrooms. Our fly rods are pressed into action as Silver Salmon pour into local rivers in the thousands, and many of our friends are out hunting deer, moose, ducks and geese, a few pounds of which often make it our way. With many hours dedicating to processing these wild foods, we often are in the mood for a quick, minimal-effort dinner. With two grocery stores in town, it’s easy to find something to prepare that fits the bill. Our latest guilty pleasure has been Marie Calendar’s pot pies.

Although those store bought pies are quite tasty, it occurred to us that creating our own featuring recently foraged mushrooms would be even better. We took on the work team-Donachy style. Jack made a filling featuring chanterelle and hedgehog mushrooms, root vegetables and charcoal-grilled New York strip steak. I made a crust and then assembled 6-inch pies which I froze and then vacuum packed so that they are ready to be popped into the oven for a delicious low-effort dinner.

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