1. With a rack in the middle of your oven, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or baking mat.
2. In a medium bowl, combine everything except the walnuts. Whisk together, then add the walnuts. Toss to coat well with the mixture.
3. Spread walnuts onto the baking sheet in one even single layer. (Works best on a nonstick surface or a silicon-baking sheet, such as a Silpat.
4. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, then stir and bake for approximately 10 minutes more until walnuts are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on sheet.
5. Serve or store in an airtight container.

1. Put the mustard, shallot, thyme, salt and pepper into blender top. Pulse until smooth.
2. Put walnut and olive oils into a container that is easy to pour from.
3. Turning blender to a medium speed, add the oil in a slow steady stream until fully incorporated and homogenous.
4. Taste, and season accordingly. You may add a little water if the vinaigrette is too thick.

1. Bring a sauce or sauté pan up to between medium and medium-high, add a tiny amount of butter then all the corn, beans, and squash. Let them warm up a bit then add about two ounces of stock.
2. Reduce until nearly dry, remove from heat, add a good tablespoon or so of whole butter and gently but thoroughly mix them together. This should result in a shiny, velvety sheen on the vegetables.
3. Sprinkle all with chopped thyme and season to taste, reserve for plating.

For the corn (2 ears):

1. Shuck and clean all corn silk from the ears. From here, it all depends on available equipment.
2. Slow roast, while constantly turning over an open gas burner to get good charred color and finish in a 350-degree oven for 5 minutes.
3. Roast on a home grill over medium to medium-high heat – this method should cook the corn completely.
4. For an oven, preheat at 450 degrees, lightly oil the corn, and then roast on a sheet tray, turning often. Once cool, clusters of corn can be cut from the ears, being careful to try to keep the clusters intact by cutting close to, but not into, the cob.

For the fava beans (1 1/12 lb in pods):

1. Have a pot of 1 ½ to 2 gallons of heavily salted water coming to a boil, along with a 2 qt container of ice bath and a strainer. Remove fava beans from the long, thick pods. When you have them all, throw them into the boiling water and allow cooking for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Use your had strainer or spider to remove the favas and place directly in the ice water to stop them from cooking and cool for the next step. When cool, remove the inner fava bean from the outer casing. Set favas aside for final preparation.

For the baby summer squash (2 cups):

1. Clean, remove blossoms if intact, and split into bite-sized wedges, usually either quarters or halves.
2. Sauté with butter over medium-high heat until cooked through. Drain on paper towel and reserve.

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter then sauté the sliced garlic until lightly golden.
2. Add the stock and a teaspoon of salt and bring to a simmer.
3. Whisk in the cornmeal and bring to a simmer.
4. Continue to cook at just-under-boiling temperatures, for 5 minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Be careful, polenta gets very hot and it can cause nasty burns if it gets on your skin!
5. Pull polenta off the heat, and then mix in the grated cheese and thyme. Season to taste.
6. Pour the polenta into well-greased flat-bottom dish in about a 1-inch layer (a Pyrex brownie pan is perfect), and cool for at least 2 hours. First hour out on a counter then finish in the refrigerator. This can, and actually should be made the day before, to allow the polenta to properly set and cool.
7. Once cool, you can either cut the pieces you want out of your pan for removal, or you can try to take all of the polenta out then cut shapes. I usually cut first then remove.

1. In a saucepan preheated at medium heat, melt the butter then add the sliced shallots. Cook slowly over medium heat until they are soft and start to caramelize.
2. Add your sliced apricots and continue to cook together, until the apricots begin to disintegrate and the shallots are golden brown and caramelize. Stir often and be patient, this may take a while.
3. When this mixture is well caramelized, add your white wine, thyme, peppercorns and bay leaf. Let the wine reduce by half to two-thirds.
4. Add your stock and continue to reduce slowly until you reach sauce consistency, skimming as needed. Sauce consistency is met when a spoon dipped into the sauce holds its shape when removed. Remove thyme spring and bay leaf, set aside for the next steps.
5. In a separate sauté pan, preheat over medium-high heat. Add a knob of butter, let it melt then sauté your mushrooms, not overcrowding the pan. The mushrooms should reduce by about half in size. When finished, drain onto paper towels to soak up extra fat. This may take several rounds of sautéing, depending on the size of your pan.  Overcrowding will lead to too much steam and an overly mushy chanterelle.
6. Add your heavy cream to the sauce base along with half of the chanterelles – reserving the other half for garnish- and slowly reduce, again, to sauce consistency. When it reaches sauce consistency, blend with blender or with an immersion blender. Strain and season.