Tag: mai take

Maitake

24 March 2022

Legend has it that maitake got its nickname The Dancing Mushroom because foragers danced with happiness when finding it. It still is a much loved culinary mushroom, with a very specific aroma, interesting texture and intense flavours.
Nowadays maitake can be wild or cultivated. Both are fine; we actually prefer the cultivated one because it’s milder. Make sure you cook maitake through and through, otherwise you may upset your stomach (and other parts of your body). 

Maitake combines very well with beef and thyme. It is also great when combined with shrimps, crab, scallops, coriander, dill and parsley; a salad created by Antonio Carluccio and published in 2003 in the Complete Mushroom Book. Our Maitake soup, made with dashi, ginger and rice, is a gentle soup, with some umami and bitterness. 

In this case we combine fried maitake with various other ingredients to create a well-balanced (vegetarian) meal.

Wine Pairing

A flavourful dish! Sweetness in the tomatoes, umami in the maitake, freshness in the mash et cetera. Wine wise you have lots of options. We preferred a not too complex pinot noir, because it’s supportive and combines very well with the various flavours.

What You Need

  • 200 grams of Maitake and Olive Oil
  • Parsley Root, Jerusalem Artichoke, Crème Fraîche, White Pepper and Nutmeg
  • Small Ripe Tomatoes, Thyme, Rosemary, Garlic and Olive Oil
  • Lentils, Shallot, Parsley, Vegetable Stock and Black Pepper
  • Celeriac, Butter, Caraway Seed, Fennel Seed and Black Pepper

What You Do

For the lentils: slice the shallot and gently fry it in olive oil. After a few minutes, add the washed lentils (check for pebbles!), coat them with oil, add vegetable stock and cook until ready. Perhaps 20 minutes. Drain but keep some of the liquid, add chopped parsley and black pepper.
For the tomato confit, see an earlier post.
For the mash: clean and chop 2 parsley roots and 1 Jerusalem artichoke. Cook for 10 minutes or so in water until nearly done. Drain. Add a generous spoonful of crème fraîche and warm on low heat for 10-20 minutes. The idea is for the vegetables to absorb some of the crème fraîche. Blender the mixture, pass through a sieve and serve with white pepper. A touch of freshly grated nutmeg will be great. If you like more color on your plate, then add some chopped parsley to the mash.
The celeriac is cooked in the oven with a coating of fennel and careway seed. The recipe from Dutch chef Yvette van Boven is available via YouTube. She combines it with a home-made citrus marmalade, but that’s not necessary for this dish. Use the YouTube settings if you want to have subtitles in your own language.
Slice the maitake and fry in olive oil until done and slightly crunchy.
Serve on a colourful plate.

Maitake ©cadwu
Fresh Mai Take ©cadwu

The Quiet Hunt

21 March 2022

Antonio Carluccio’s The Complete Mushroom book is more than a cookbook. The first part of the book discusses foraging and collecting mushrooms, with clear descriptions of each mushroom and poisonous look-alikes. It’s a pleasure to read, but we’re not brave enough to start our own quiet hunt.

Fortunately, mushrooms are becoming more popular and greengrocers and supermarkets have started selling chestnut mushrooms, button mushrooms and shiitake. Asian supermarkets in most cases sell (king) oyster mushrooms, shiitake, enoki and shimeji.
Don’t be tempted to buy dried mushrooms: expensive, no aroma, nasty taste and not even close to a fresh mushroom.

Recipes

The second part of the book includes some 150 mushroom recipes, ranging from classic Italian dishes to culinary treats. Carluccio’s recipes are well written and informative. You’ll get the feeling that he lets you in on some of his secrets. And given he started foraging mushrooms as a young child, there are a lot of secrets to share!

One of our favourites is a salad made with maitake, fresh scallops, crab and shrimps. It’s an amazing result, with lots of pleasant flavours, also thanks to the cilantro, dill and parsley. Part of the fun is that the scallops are not seared but prepared like ceviche. Maitake is also available as a cultivated mushroom.

Caponata

More favourites? Of course! How about Mushroom Caponata or Tagliolini with black truffle? The caponata is a combination of mushrooms, egg plant and various herbs, so if you can buy button mushrooms and for instance shiitake, you’re ready to go.

Our all-time favourite from this book is the combination of fresh oysters with white truffle (bianchetti). A starter we prepare once or twice a year, depending on the availability of the truffle. Always a pleasure…

The Mushroom Book – the Quiet Hunt was published in 2001. It’s available (in most cases second hand) via channels such as Amazon and e-Bay for prices between 25 and 50 euro.

One of the very best books on mushrooms, written by a true expert.

PS

Later we found an earlier book by Antonio Carlucci called A Passion for Mushrooms, published in 1989. Very little overlap in recipes. A must-have for mushroom lovers!

Complete Mushroom Book Antonio Carluccio
Oysters a la Carluccio © cadwu

Bavette with Mai Take

18 September 2019

Powerful combination

Mai Take (Hen of the Woods) is originally a mushroom from Japan and China. The Mai Take is known as a medicinal mushroom (but we’re not sure what it is supposed to cure; we just love the texture and the taste!). It can be wild or cultivated. One of our favourites is a salad with Mai Take, Shrimp, Crab, Coquilles St Jacques, Coriander, Dill and Parsley, created by Antonio Carluccio and published in 2003 in the Complete Mushroom Book. Go to your local bookstore and buy it! The book has a wealth of wonderful, simple recipes.

Bavette is beef from the flank. Other names are Flap Meat, Sirloin Tip and maybe Hanger Meat. Bavette (and other meat from the flank) is often used for stewing and poaching. Not many know it is actually very tasty and great when eaten saignant. Plus it’s not expensive at all. It is however hard to find because most butchers will use it for stews and assume their customers are not interested in it. If your butcher is a real butcher (so one that buys a complete animal and not just vacuumed bits) it’s a matter of asking.
Thyme is an essential element in the dish because it brings Bavette and Mai Take together. It’s not just a bridge between the two, it envelopes them.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our bavette with a glass of Verdarail, a rich wine from the south of France, with lots of red and black fruits. Spicy. A wine with a long finish and well-integrated tannins.

What You Need

  • Bavette
  • 100 gram Mai Take
  • Olive Oil
  • Butter
  • Thyme
  • Black Pepper

What You Do

We’re not the world greatest carnivores. Bavette has an intense taste, so we would recommend 100 grams per person maximum.
The bavette must be room temperature. So take it out of the refrigerator let’s say 2 hours in advance. Heat a heavy iron skillet, add olive oil. Fry as you would do a normal steak, but significantly longer. We fried our 214 gram of bavette for maybe 6 minutes. Agreed, you think your lovely bavette will be overcooked, but it will be fine. Ad some butter towards the end to coat the meat. Arroser and turn frequently. Check the firmness of the beef. As soon as you feel it becomes firmer, transfer to a plate and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
The Mai Take need a few minutes only. Fry them gently in the same pan. You may want to add some of the juices of the bavette.
Slice the bavette and serve with the Mai Take, a generous amount of fresh thyme and black pepper.