Have you joined the 'shroom boom?
Plus TWO incredible recipes for making the most of glorious mushrooms. A peek inside my local mushroom 'farm' and how fungi-philes can help save the planet.
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There’s a fungus fantasia happening on my high street. Shaggy lion’s mane, sturdy shiitake, oysters blushing violet, black king pearl mushrooms and more, are all blooming in a glassed-off area in my local cheese shop, Parlourmentary. It’s magical and amazing.
It was the idea of owner James Fowler, the most enthiastic guy I know for embracing eco-friendly ways of doing things in hospitality. The space in the shop used to be a chiller cabinet for storing meat and then fresh produce. But he wanted to repurpose it for something that didn’t need energy-hungry refrigeration, so turned it into a vertical mushroom farm.
The ‘shrooms sprout from grow bags sourced from the local Jurassic Coast Mushrooms company; I don’t know much about the technicalities (I’ll report back). But the bags contain a substrate injected with mycelium (fungus filaments) made from mushrooms that grow wild in the nearby New Forest. In the right humid conditions they bloom into the most exquisitely beautul and delicious mushrooms, which customers can buy freshly cut.
The environmental plus points are significant: mushrooms are a quick-growing, highly nutritious food, with a tiny carbon footprint (no air miles involved, no vast swathes of land required) when grown this way. It’s no surprise this type of mushroom farming is increasingly popular, not least because of soaring demand for meat alternatives that are real foods not chemical formulations. Mushrooms have a naturally meaty texture and, with the right seasoning to tease out the umami notes, make a very satisfying substitute.
The popularity of grow bags, and the technology that goes into them (cultivating the mycelium in labs, or in the case of some hobbyists, garden sheds and bedrooms) also helps to keep varities of wild mushrooms alive.
In the UK, the arrival of Autumn means it’s wild-mushroom season, and there’s nothing lovelier than a walk in the forest in the company of a mycophile who can steer you clear of the poionous ones. But not all of us have access to forests or mushroom experts, which means the closest many of us come to mushrooms these days are the ubiquitous plastic-wrapped white button variety.
This is a huge pity. Britain has a long and delicious history of cooking with mushrooms; during the 18th and 19th centuries, cookbooks included recipes for using them, particularly in sauces and soups, as well as in hugely popular mushroom ketchup, which was made by pickling and fermenting them. (Mushroom ketchup was a common seasoning before tomatoes came along and Heinz turned them into red sauce).
White buttons became a staple in the 20th century when they started to be commercially grown, and began to appear in stews, pies and good old breakfast fry ups. Its only in recent decades that the mushroom renaissance in Britain has seen us fall in love again with wild varities like chanterelles, porcini, and oyster. But they’re not easy to find, and are pricey. Wouldn’t it be lovely if every high street had a vertical mushroom farm?
Anyway, I have two recipes/techniques for you today. The first one involves Lion’s Mane mushroom, served with labneh and confit garlic. It’s super tender and juicy, reminiscent of steak in texure and packed with umami flavour. If it sounds cheffy that’s because it is - the recipe comes from Jessie Wells, head chef at The Larderhouse (a restarant in the Parlourmentary family) who is exceptionally brilliant at teasing the best out of good ingredients. Saying that, the dish is incredibly easy to make.
The second recipe is for a crispy chicken dish served with a creamy wild mushroom and thyme sauce. It has a slight 1990s-dinner-party-dish vibe, but is none the worse for that because it’s so gorgeous.
Lion’s Mane with confit garlic and yoghurt
This is more a cooking method than a formal recipe. Start with your confit garlic. Peel a whole bunch of garlic cloves - I’d recommend using 2 or 3 whole bulbs because they’re amazing to have in the fridge to squish on toast or add to sauces/salads. Place them in a small saucepan, cover completely with good olive oil and simmer ever so gently for 30-40 minutes. We’re talking champagne bubbles not a rolling boil. Pull the pan off the heat once the garlic cloves are completely tender and squishable. (Store in an airtight container in the fridge and use the garlic infused oil for general cooking.)
Now, place the whole large piece/s of Lion’s Mane in a shallow heaproof dish in which they fit snuggly. Brush the exposed sides generously with dark soy sauce and place under a hot grill. Cook for about five minutes or so, then turn the mushroom on its side, brush with more soy and place under the grill for 5 more minutes. Continue turning, brushing and repeating until all sides are done, the mushroom/s are very tender and have slumped in the dish, releasing lots of juices.
When done, cut into slices and serve on a cloud of thick Greek yoghurt, with some confit garlic cloves, a little of the garlicky oil and the juices from the mushroom spooned over.
Crispy chicken with creamy thyme + wild mushroom sauce
This would be delicious served with roast or mached potatoes, and a side of greens for a complete and delicious supper or Sunday lunch.
Serves 2 - 3
6 chicken thighs, bone out, skin on
a splash of olive oil
250g wild mushrooms, sliced or chopped roughly to the same size
100ml white wine
20g unsalted butter
100ml chicken stock
80ml creme fraiche or single cream
2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
a sqeeze of lemon
Method
Heat a frying pan until hot, then add a splash of oil and swirl to coat the base. Add the chicken thighs skin-side down (don’t crowd the pan or the skin won’t crisp up, so cook in batches). Fry over a high heat, without moving the chicken around, until the skin is crisp and golden, abut 4 - 6 minutes. Lift up a corner of one of the thighs now and then with tongs to check the colour. Flip and continue to fry until cooked through. Set aside on a plate.
To the same pan you cooked the chicken, add the mushrooms and fry over a high heat, shaking the pan now and then, until golden in parts and the mushrooms have softened and released their juices.
Add the white wine to the pan and scrape the bottom pan with a wooden spoon as it bubbles up. Let it bubble away over a medium heat until reduced by roughly half, then add the butter, stock, creme fraiche/cream and thyme. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Simmer gently, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened. Stir in any juices from the chicken plate, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
Serve the chicken with the mushrooms and sauce spooned over.
Those two recipes sound amazing!