Hello people of the Hive realm and food lovers.
Since June, we have had the little yearly summer market at my local park. They come once a week in the summer until fall.
It has been disappointing for me this year. The usual mushroom vendors are not coming. They go to another location which takes place when I work.
I had run there, looking for some exotic mushrooms, which I splurge on each year. The other vendors told me when and where they were this year. I had to accept that I would not be having super mushrooms this year.
I wondered if by chance the big farmer's market would have a vendor with special mushrooms. It would require a metro ride to get there. I really despise public transportation, but on a whim I hauled my butt to the metro and suffered the 5 stops to the market.
This is a huge market that you can get lost at. The produce is amazing but as far as I'm concerned, you have to be well off to get all of the items that you want.
After running into a mushroom vending stall, I decided that I would reserve my hard earned cash for the mushrooms that I had longed for. They were all there. My favourites.
The hen
Maitake mushrooms are also known as "hen of the woods". They are very unique in flavor and texture. They are quite dense and don't contain so much water. This is great for a meaty substitute.
Since a hen is a female chicken, I decided to fry these like good old southern fried chicken. I limit my fried food consumption, but now and then I just go for it.
I sliced them very carefully so as not to lose their delicate feathers.
Crispy hen of the woods Maitake mushroom
100g maitake mushroom
1 cup vegan yogourt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt to my liking
I mixed the seasonings in the yogourt but sometimes I just add it to the four. It depends on how I feel.
The yogourt being thick made it so it coated and stuck to the mushroom.
After coating with the yogourt, it was coated in flour.
The coating was nice and thick.
The two mushrooms were prepared the same day but cooked on separate days. This was kept in the fridge and cooked the next day.
I used a very small pot for frying. Oil is quite expensive these days and I don't fry often.
They were in until nice and golden. They looked so much like fried chicken it was kind of exciting. I used to love fried chicken as much as the next person.
I always say that if you fry a sock it would taste good.
I decided to have them with pasta. This may seem like a strange combo with fried mushrooms but it was like a bonus on top of the pasta.
I went with a cream sauce.
Cream sauce
1 small carrot
1 stalk celery
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon vegan butter
2 cups soy milk
2 tablespoons vegetable stock powder
1/2 cup minced fresh parsly
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying
I started with cooking the carrots, celery, onion and then garlic in a pan with a little oil and then added butter.
After adding flour and mixing thoroughly to prevent clumping, I added some soy milk. I prefer soy milk for cooking because of it's thickness and neutral taste.
I added penne to the sauce. I felt that penne seemed appropriate for this dish.
This was an epic bowl of pasta.
It was a nice nest for my crispy hen.
The lion
Hericium erinaceus fungus is known as lion's mane for it's fluffy hairy appearance. It's soft and toothy. This is like a pet that you can eat.
There is quite a lot of information about it's health benefits. I am pretty sure that gets cancelled out when you cook it. There are supplements that you can get from lion's mane which is supposed to be good for the brain. I think I should get some.
This is probably my all time favourite fungus. Anyone that can stumble upon it in the woods must get super excited. I stumble upon it at the market and that's pretty exciting.
Grilled lion's mane mushroom
250 g lion's mane
Basting sauce
I wanted to experiment with grilling thick pieces in my electric grill by pressing down until it closed.
I wasn't sure if I could get it to closed but it worked.
I had prepared a basting sauce from random items in my fridge.
Basting sauce
30g ketchup
25g sriracha
30g vegetarian mushroom sauce
20g lime juice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
After mixing it together I slathered it on the pieces on both sides.
I realized I had not greased the grill but it didn't stick because of the moisture in the mushroom. The moisture was pretty much out of the mushroom when it was nice and grilled on both sides.
This was also much like chicken. I haven't had chicken in almost two decades so I wouldn't be a harsh judge of it being like chicken or not.
Yes of course it was also like a mushroom with a very meaty texture.
I put some peanut sauce on it that I had made on another occasion. It was leftover.
Peanut sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 small fresh chilies or to your liking
2 tablespoons agave
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Water enough to smooth it out to your liking.
Blend it in a blender until smooth.
I sprinkled with toasted crushed peanuts.
This was accompanied with broccoli and rice and an extra squeeze of lime.
These mushrooms for me are a real treat that I have to have at least twice a year. I am tempted to go back to the big market tomorrow. I think I'll just buy some veggies instead.
Unfortunately there are never any leftovers with these mushroom dishes.
Thank you for stopping by and have a great day.
design by: @KidSisters
The photos are taken with a Nikon D7500 and are of my ownership