Happy Meatless Monday everyone, Jess here.
Today in the spirit of Meatless Monday I wanted to wax poetic about this fabulous mushroom, the Lion’s Mane, now available at Fat Moon.
My family members (myself excluded) are not generally fans of mushrooms, however I held out hope that they may be swayed as this species seems pretty far out of the realm of mushrooms as we know them.
I’m going to assume that the name of this mushroom comes from the fact that it looks very “hairy”, and like the mane of a lion. It’s really a beautiful thing, light and fluffy feeling with many nooks and crannies for whatever flavors you throw it’s way.
This gargantuan fungus has been rumored to taste like lobster when sautéed in butter. I just had to give it a try to see if the rumors were true. A quick chop into 1 inch pieces got me started.
After heating your skillet until hot, dry cook the mushrooms over medium heat for a few minutes until they begin to brown and release water. Next, take a generous pat of Amish Roll Butter and drop it into the sauté pan, along with about 1-2 cloves of minced garlic and an optional splash of white wine. Once the butter is melted and as the garlic begins to get fragrant
Here you can see an experimental batch, where I didn’t dry cook the mushrooms first, so they didn’t release water before I added the butter, causing them to be a little soggy. Live and learn!
I thought I was being a bit too generous with my butter, until I realized how much was getting absorbed into the mushrooms as they cooked. There’s no way these aren’t going to be tasty.
After about 5 minutes in the pan (I just tossed and tasted for tenderness), these beauties were ready to go.
My family, who is neither fond of mushrooms or lobster, loved these. Cooked just right, any notion that this is fungus goes out the window, and only the perfect vessel for butter and garlic flavor remains. Serve with some corn frozen from the Summer CSA and a baked potato from the Winter CSA, and you’ve got a Meatless Monday meal. If you have any cilantro left, that with a squeeze of lime would make a welcome variation to this dish as well.
These delectable mushrooms are a perfect compliment to the CSA goodness of the season, along with the various oyster and shiitakes at Fat Moon. Interested in learning more about these fabulous fungi and how to obtain them? Sign up for Farmer Elizabeth’s mushroom email list and hear when the next fresh crop is available!
In other news, we are excited to see the herbs going into the garden at Springdell today! Let the season begin!