Panko Battered and Fried Maitake Mushrooms!

Panko Fried Maitake Mushrooms

A one pound Maitake mushroom was nestled right at the base of an Elm tree on Sunday.  They are most prone to grow at the base of Oak but you can occasionally find them near Elm and Locust.  It was just barely popping up from all the leaves on the ground which made me think back to my search that day and I realized I might have missed a lot more of these puppies.  I was looking for something just a little fluffier but my partner actually spotted this one.  I was looking in an entirely different direction.  This year both times that we've found mushrooms it has been at the end of our hike closest to where civilians have recreational activities.  So I've drawn the conclusion that perhaps the deer are getting a lot of these mushrooms in the deep woods and leaving them at the edges since they don't want to come too close to people.  Well, anyways that's what is so fun and mysterious about mushrooms, you never know when and where you are going to find them, especially morels but that is a Spring obsession, just wait.  Today the Chicago Sun-Times photographer came over to take pictures of my panko fried maitake mushrooms and then pictures of me in the woods looking for them.  I made the mushrooms just before he came over hoping he was hungry but he doesn't like mushrooms so I packed some up for his wife who he says, "loves them."  This is how I made them and this will likely be the same recipe that comes out in the paper but you get it first here, it's super easy!
1 lb. Maitake mushrooms.  If bought from the store, break apart into bite size pieces.  If found in woods you should be able to cut beautiful cross sections of these and they will look like trees or if it's a big Maitake, you can separate the petals and fry those.  Clean them with a light brushing and water.  I have a toothbrush that I use specifically for these mushrooms.
1 cup All-purpose flour
1-2 cup crushed Panko bread crumbs.  I grind mine in a spice grinder so that they are nice and fine.  If you don't have panko you can use stale white, wheat, or rye bread and grind in food processor, pretzels or gluten-free bread (skipping the flour part or using a gluten-free starch, rice flour or potato starch-both can be found very inexpensively at most Asian stores and definitely on Argyle St.).
3 egg yolk
3 oz cream or milk
2 t Kosher salt
1 t cracked pepper
2 oz. butter
1/2 cup canola oil
Place cup of flour on one plate, whisk eggs and cream in a bowl and place that next to the flour plate, and then on the other side of the bowl, place a plate with your crumb mixture with salt and pepper.  First dip your mushrooms into the flour and tap off excess, then into the bowl and use a fork to turn it over to coat it with egg and cream on both sides then place it into the crumb mixture.  Heat canola oil and butter in skillet, when you drop in a little piece of crumb mixture and it sizzles, it's ready.  Place the mushrooms in and let cook till brown, about 2-3 minutes, then flip with fork to brown other side.  Take out and place on paper towel on a plate or on drip rack on a plate or tray, sprinkle with a touch more salt and that's it.  Good thing about this fry mix is you can do anything with it, fry anything, add powders like garlic, onion, celery, cayenne, etc...  Hope you like them as much as I do.  If you don't get a chance to hit the woods, River Valley Kitchens from Wisconsin has foraged Maitake and sometimes Green Acre Farms does as well.  I know both of these merchants are at Green City Market so they might have them this time of year.  Or if you do have a chance to hit the woods you can come with me where I will uncover my spots, the 16th, you get breakfast, lunch, round-trip bus, and lots of other goodies, beverages, etc.  $100 dollar fee.  And you can also find these mushrooms at most of the Wholefoods stores here in Chicago.  Good luck!

Today In The Kitchen

Today In The Kitchen

It's likely that I spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else.  Most of the week, at least four days, I spend ten to fourteen hours in my kitchen and the rest of the time I spend shopping, foraging or researching food and things for the kitchen.  It's been brought to my attention that perhaps I have autism because I'm a little socially awkward and have obsessions.  I'd say I'm shy, have passion and am interested in a lot of stuff.  The couple things I have always loved, obsessed over and have always look forward to is cooking, mushroom hunting and writing.  I haven't been writing so much in the past couple years since I've been working mostly full-time as a chef but I have just recently found this as such a great outlet where I can combine all three.
So today I'm going to tell you three things I'm doing in the kitchen among the many. 
PECAN ICE CREAM
First I made a Pecan Milk by toasting Pecans in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes.  Then I measured, 450 g of whole milk and 160 g of heavy cream which in total is roughly 18 oz. of liquid.
Once the pecans were toasted I broke them up with a hand blender into the liquid in a medium sized saucepan.  I heated the pecans and the liquid to just below boiling then cooled and covered it and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
...So with 8 egg yolks, about 6.6 oz of sugar and the strained liquid I made a custard by slowly bringing all these ingredients whisked together to a nice hot temperature just short of boiling the liquid or cooking the egg yolks.  It is a nice ribbon consistency and will stick to the back of a spoon.
Once this custard is made I let it cool then transfer it to a blender adding about 1-2 g of guar gum and about 1-2 gram of soy lecithin.  I lay out my ice cream on a flat tray in this case so this is why I use these stabilizers, to prevent ice crystals, but if you have an ice cream machine and are transferring this to a regular container it should be just fine without those.  So after I add my stabilizers I spin the custard in a small ice cream machine that I bought at Sur La Table.   You can make any nut ice cream this way or use this basic recipe, add vanilla bean and vanilla extract for a nice rich ice cream.
CHERRY AIOLI
I pitted and dehydrated about a pound of cherries at the end of cherry season.  I dehydrated them at about 135 for about 36-48 hours.  I placed them in an airtight container.  Today I took them out, tasted them, and redehydrated for about 4 hours then pulverized about a 1/2 cup in a spice grinder and then passed it through a pasois which is a little strainer that helps me sift it.
For a basic aioli you will need...
1 egg yolk
1 T water
2 T lemon juice
salt to taste
8-12 oz. flavorless oil
Add egg yolk to bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment.  Quickly add water, lemon juice and salt, begin whisking and then slowly drizzle in oil (I say quickly because salt and lemon will cook the egg yolk making it difficult to emulsify).  This should be about twenty seconds of speedy whisking to get a nice aioli.  If if looks like it is breaking, add a drop or two more water, it will re-emulsify. To make my aioli I added the cherry powder at the end.  It's yummy.
Good thing about this basic recipe is you can do so much, adding a different flavored oil, almond for example and finish with chopped almonds or garlic oil and finish with fresh chopped tarragon and place on a lean white fish with a orange wedge to finish, you can do anything with this.
CURED DUCK BREAST
With the breast already removed from the duck and trimmed up I rinsed them in cold water and lined them up on a tray.
You can use equal parts:
Pink curing salt (if you don't have it skip this ingredient)
Kosher salt
Sugar
I sprinkle a thin layer over skin and breast of duck and place in a food saver bag and vaccum seal them but you can just wrap them tightly in plastic and place in the refrigerator overnight.  Twelve hours is a nice curing time for duck breast.  Then after the elapsed time I rinse them in cold water.  Place a drip rack on a tray and let them air dry in the refrigerator for twenty four hours.  I smoke mine but you can sear these, roast them, cook them sous vide.  Whatever you like.
A recent cure I was using was a drizzle of soy, equal parts kosher salt, brown sugar, and sugar.  Oooh, so good.  For the Holidays if you plan on doing any duck or turkey curing or brines throw in orange peels, gran mariner, holiday spices...sage, clove, allspice, rosemary, thyme, bay, any of these things, it really makes a difference.  Ok, back to the kitchen.

How To Sprouts

How To Sprouts

Oke doke, so I know for me, winter can make me feel pretty unsexy...lots of clothes, sex with socks on, weight gain.  If you are a dork like me, sprouting will make you feel sexy in the winter and all year long perhaps.  I feel very rewarded when I can say, mid-winter, that I grew my own salad in my pantry.  When I started my business, One Sister Inc., I did just that, began to sprout greens in my pantry (if you don't have a pantry you can use a cabinet).  So here's the deal. it's easy, you just have to do a little work to get what you need... First decide on what kind of greens or sprouts you'd like to grow.  My favorites, which have fast turn around, because I like short-term satisfaction especially when it's cold are broccoli, radish, pea, and sunflower.  All of these will produce beautiful greens once exposed to light.  The sprouting seeds can be found on the web or in some specialty stores.  I like Sprout People and will attach a link.  Once you have the seeds you like you can read the directions but here is what I do.  I put about a tablespoon of each seed in a different plastic container, I fill it with room temp water and let them soak for 8-12 hours.  Then I pour each different seed into a sprouting tray (I use the SproutMaster sprouting tray) but you can use a sprouting jar, hemp bag, or even cardboard egg container.  I rinse and drain the seeds and cover them with the lid but you can use damp paper towel if using a homemade tray.  I place them in my pantry.  You can use a cabinet, etc, somewhere dark and anywhere from 55-90 degrees F.  The warmer it is the faster they will sprout.  You'll want to rinse them two to three times daily, make sure you shake or drain the water off.  Once you see them sprout their little tails you can transfer them to shallow trays containing about an inch of top soil or manure.  If you don't want top soil or manure in your house you can use sprouting mats which can also be found on the Sprout People website (I think they call them baby blankets).  Leave these sprouts covered for a day or two, still lightly rinsing, until they reach about an inch in height.  Then transfer them to a warm windowsill and they will practically turn green before your very eyes.  Once they've grown and opened up nicely you can cut them down with small kitchen shears or any scissors and add them to salads, soups, sandwiches.  If you grow them in a soil or manure medium be sure to rinse thoroughly. 
The broccoli and radish sprouts can also be sprouted to look like the sprouts you find in stores.  Instead of transferring them to soil or baby blanket, just transfer to a tray and place in the light.  They will turn green.  Once green, transfer to a bowl with water and swish around to help hull removal and then drain, pat dry and store in airtight container in refrigerator.  Also for salads composed of mainly sprouts try for the heartier ones such as pea and sunflower.  Sunflower may require a little more practice and patience but the taste is well worth the effort.
When I entered my first Farmers' Market, before my pierogi made it to the big time I sold sprout wraps and zucchini pancakes with Butterkase cheese from Wisconsin. 
For the Sprout Wraps:
1 Whole Wheat Wrap
Handful of broccoli, radish, sunflower and pea sprouts
1/4 Sliced avocado
1T Dried cherries
2 T Vinegar dressing composed of 1 part balsamic, 2 parts grapeseed oil, equal parts salt and sugar, and cracked pepper to taste.
I hope this makes you feel sexy!!!!!!!!
Sprout People link http://www.sproutpeople.com/

Chicago Forest Preserve

Chicago Forest Preserve

Well I can't claim to know everything about food but I do know how to find food.  If the world ends in 2012 or if there is just a shift in consciousness or if a huge bomb goes off and only leaves some of us behind, like in the book, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, I think you'd want me on your side.  I won't eat you or your animals (i.e. cat, dog, hamster), so that's a start.  But I will be able to feed you from what is left assuming there is some vegetation.  Today I went the Chicago Forest Preserve for dinner.  Sometimes I get sick of the same old conventional shopping.  So tonight for dinner I'm highlighting dandelion greens.  I'll mix them with heirloom tomatoes, grapeseed oil, a dash of sherry vinegar, salt and cracked pepper.  I have my own lovely pepper combo I use, it's green, red, black and thai long peppercorns.  Yum.  So that will be the starter.  At the last farmers' market I bought pasta from Specialty Pasta, I like him.  Sweet potato gnocchi.  I'll heat that with garlic, dandelion greens, butter and parmesan cheese.
While the dandelion greens will do, I have to be honest, my favorite thing to find in the woods is mushrooms.  Today wasn't the day.  While I found decent conditions, some fairly old Oaks, beautiful minty green moss, I just didn't find any mushrooms.  Now I did find a lot of deer tracks and had I been a deer hunter today would have been my lucky day, two came within twenty feet of me and checked me out.  I think they might have gotten to the mushrooms first.  Deer will do that, they know what to eat and they love maitake mushrooms in the Fall and morels in the Spring.
Even if you are not interested in finding your food in the woods, the Chicago Forest Preserves are gorgeous and I felt proud of our City today, unlike the days when I get parking tickets.  There is calm and serenity there.