Use 5 pounds of ripe tomatoes for this marinara recipe.

Autumn has certainly arrived. Feel it in the air, at night and in your bones. This is a good feeling. And the mushrooms, poking out from invisible mycelium — voila!

The first are the pepper (red-capped) russula, hot in the mouth and bitter. Don’t succumb to the temptation. But the chanterelles are also here. Their early appearance speaks to a new phenomenon: Earth warming and drying. In my youth, they appeared much later in the season. Oh, they are so good.

And now, I have found the lobster mushroom. They seem to be spreading north, faster and faster each year. They are firm mushrooms, best slowly simmered. They emerge from the good Earth, resembling the back of a Maine lobster.

This morning, I was looking at a basket of ripe garden tomatoes, a gift from a college professor and his gracious wife. They are as generous as the soft ocean wind that follows an Indian summer. These same winds combine with ocean moisture and propel the growth of the fungi.

It was decided in committee by my wife, Laurie and I: Let’s make a marinara sauce with lobster mushrooms and those very red and delicious tomatoes.

Homemade mushroom marinara

Ingredients

• 5 pounds chopped and diced tomatoes

• Two chopped onions

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

• 3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

• 2 pounds wild lobster mushrooms

• 1 pound chanterelles

• 1/2 cup red wine

• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

• 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes

• 4 tablespoons wild mushroom dust

• 1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)

Preparation

Slice and dice the tomatoes. Thin-slice the mushrooms. Saute the garlic and onions in 3 tablespoons of virgin olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and saute over medium heat for 5 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes and slow simmer for another 10 minutes. Deglaze with marsala wine (any red wine will do). Stir in the mushroom dust and the spices. Salt and pepper to taste. Slow cook for 30 more minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the tomato paste only if the sauce needs thickening.

Serve over fresh pasta for an autumn delicacy. The sauce stores well and freezes. Marinara over polenta is wonderful.

I make my mushroom dust from older, soft mushrooms, which I dry in a food dehydrator. Crumble them and add them to a food processor until they are pulverized into fine dust. It stores nearly indefinitely if kept sealed.