Maitake | I Can Cook That

Sauteed Hen of the Woods Mushrooms

Note: I was sent a copy of The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook for review. All opinions are mine alone.

The Freds at Barneys New York Cookbook is the definitive cookbook by the celebrated chef and managing director (Mark Strausman) of Freds at Barneys New York, one of New York’s most beloved restaurants with locations in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Barneys New York, with its flagship store on Madison Avenue, is a world-famous cutting-edge fashion destination, and a true New York phenomenon. And since 1996, Barneys’ restaurant Freds at Barneys New York–named after found Barneys Pressman’s son Fred–has been offering in food what Barneys offers in fashion: a luxury destination that provides a level of personal service second to none, where the food keeps their celebrity clientele coming back for more.

In The Freds at Barneys Cookbook, Strausman invites you into the kitchen of this restaurant institution and teaches you how to bring a piece of New York chic into your own home. The cookbook is filled with awesome recipes from the restaurant, such as Belgian Fries or Estelle’s Chicken Soup, Mark’s Madison Avenue Salad or Chicken Paillard, Traditional Bolognese (or Vegan!) or Cheese Fondue Scrambled Eggs, and commemorates all of the delicious recipes Freds has served over the years at the Madison Avenue, Chelsea, Beverly Hills, and Chicago locations.

This recipe for sauteed hen of the woods mushrooms caught my eye. I love mushrooms, especially hen of the woods mushrooms. Also known as maitake mushrooms, these mushrooms have a feathery texture but pack some hearty flavor.

Ingredients:

1 pound hen of the woods mushrooms
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups baby arugula
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 garlic cloves, sliced
6 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
Shaved slices Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

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Wild Mushroom Truffled Pizza Topped with Runny Eggs

.Pizzas are a great weeknight meal option; it’s easy to make it out of products in your pantry and can be customized for whatever you’re in the mood to eat that night (or what you need to clean out of the fridge!) There is a pizza place near me in Philly called Nomad Pizza that has one of my favorite pizzas: their Truffle Pecorino pizza. The pizza is topped with cheese, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, truffle oil, and a runny egg.

I wanted to try out a version of this pizza for myself. I used a mixture of baby bella, maitake, and shiitake mushroom caps and made a quick garlic truffle oil to drizzle on for extra flavor to make this recipe for Wild Mushroom Truffled Pizza Topped with Runny Eggs.

Ingredients:

1 store bought pizza dough
1/4 cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon, divided
2 garlic cloves crushed
a drizzle of white truffle oil
1 package of sliced shiitake mushroom caps
1 package of sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/4 cup maitake mushrooms (or any wild mushroom you prefer)
salt and pepper, to taste
4 oz ricotta
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
4-6 oz brie (I used Champignon German Brie with mushrooms)
2-4 oz Boschetto al Tartufo (Boschetto with Truffles) – you can also just use any mild cow cheese you’d like
2 eggs

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Seared Steak with Mushroom Marsala Sauce

I live near-ish Kennett Square, PA, the “mushroom capital of the world.” For the last 28 years, Kennett Square has hosted an amazing Mushroom Festival the first weekend following Labor Day. I love this festival. There are cooking demonstrations, contests, farm tours, and of course, a ton of mushroom filled dishes. But honestly the best part of the festival is the ability to stock up on all different kinds of mushrooms.

So for the week following the Mushroom Festival each year, I gorge myself on all things mushroom. You may have noticed that each year this blog gets very fungi-filled in September. (Past posts: Mushroom Risotto, Mushroom Green Bean and Farro Salad with a Poached Egg and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette, and Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon).

Beef and Mushrooms are really wonderful together, which is why you see them paired so often. To get the most flavor out of these ingredients, I wanted to sear steak (I used filet tail), cook the mushrooms in the same pan, and then make a sauce with some of the browned bits left in the pan.

I made this one-pot dish in a new offering from Calphalon and Williams-Sonoma: the Elite Nonstick line of pans. I received a 3-piece set which includes a 10″ Fry Pan and a 3 quart Saute Pan with a lid. These are some snaz-zy pans. I literally swooned when I opened them up. There are a bunch of great qualities to these pans that make them perfect for this recipe. The Elite Nonstick line of cookware has a textured sear nonstick surface, which seals in flavor when browning or searing. The pans are metal-utensil safe, so you can use your metal whisk or spatula without scratching the cookware. The cookware is also dishwasher safe, making cleanup a breeze.

Elite Nonstick just launched on Williams-Sonoma.com on September 12 and will be available in Williams-Sonoma Stores on September 27. The cookware is sold as an 11-piece set, or as individual pieces. But I am excited to announce that Calphalon is giving one I Can Cook That reader a 10″ Elite Fry Pan, valued at $150! I’ll have more on the giveaway at the end of this post.

So let’s see what these awesome pans can do! I used the 3 quart saute pan for this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 8-oz steaks (I used filet tails)
2 shallots, chopped
2 cups assorted mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup beef stock
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons butter
fresh chives, sliced, for garnish

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Potato and Wild Mushroom Soup

This past weekend was one of my favorite September events: the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival. That’s right, an entire festival dedicated to fungi. And it’s amazing. Kennett Square’s main street (State Street) shuts down to accommodate blocks of vendors, there are cooking demonstrations, soup contests, and mushroom eating contests. There is even pumpkin mushroom ice cream. All in celebration of the mushroom. (Fun fact: Kennett Square is considered the Mushroom Capital of the world).

Naturally, I picked up a bunch of mushrooms which I will now be using to cook all week. mmm. Because today was the first “fall” feeling day, I decided to use some of the mushrooms to make a soup. I wanted to stay away from a creamy soup so I used potatoes to thicken it up. I found the inspiration for this soup in The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit (one of my favorite books for food pairings).

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 lb wild mushrooms, chopped
3 cups vegetable stock (or chicken or beef stock)
1-2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon rosemary
Salt and pepper, to taste

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Smoky Asparagus and Mushroom Saute

The April 2011 Issue of Cooking Light included a seemingly simple side dish using a type of mushroom I have yet to work with: Smoky Asparagus and Mushroom Saute. Morels are a wild mushroom; efforts to cultivate this mushroom have been mostly unsuccessful. Because they need to be “hunted” (those that collect morels are called mushroom hunters, I kid you not), they are super expensive– the market I went to was selling them for $69.99/lb., ouch. So this recipe can get pricey fast. I substituted in some hen of the woods (“Maitake”) mushrooms to save my wallet a bit. I ended up spending about $4 on the morels and a $1 and some change on the hen of the woods.

I had some left over asparagus from making the Orzo Risotto with Buttery Shrimp dish a few days ago so this dish was perfect to use ingredients I mostly had on hand.

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon
1 tablespoon butter (omit to make dairy free)
3 oz quartered fresh morel mushrooms
3 oz chopped hen of the woods
1 pound asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chopped chives

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