Tag: shiitake

Easy Mushroom Pie

4 September 2025

Hurray! The mushroom season has started! Last Friday we bought beautiful golden chanterelles (girolles) and white beech mushrooms (shimeji). It’s the time of year to enjoy wonderful dishes such as Cèpes à la Bordelaise or Salad with Mushrooms and Smoked Duck. Will there be bay boletes this year? Or the intriguing Japanese Matsutake? It’s been some time since we last saw these on the market, and we would really love to make Matsutake with Spinach and Ginger again.
We decided to celebrate the start of the season by making an easy Mushroom Pie, packed with rich flavours, nuttiness and a touch of autumn.

Wine Pairing

We treated ourselves to a bottle of Pinot Noir from the Elzas region, made by Sophie Schaal. She produces wine in France and South Africa. The grapes are handpicked and then naturally fermented before ageing in French oak barrels for 10 months. The result is a wine with a deep ruby colour. The aromas suggest black fruit and a touch of vanilla. The taste is well balanced with soft tannins and length.
In general, you’re looking for a wine with red fruit and refined tannins. Some earthiness will match very well with the mushrooms and the taleggio.

What You Need
  • For the Pastry
    • 100 grams of Flour
    • 50 grams of Water
    • 10 grams of Olive Oil
    • 1 gram of Salt
  • For the Filling
    • 250 grams of firm Mushrooms (shiitake, golden chanterelles, beech mushrooms, button mushrooms)
    • 1 Organic Egg
    • 50 grams of Taleggio
    • 50 ml Double Cream
    • Thyme
    • 1 small Garlic Clove
    • Black Pepper
    • Olive Oil
    • 2 slices of Bacon (optional)
What You Do
  1. Combine flour, salt, water and olive oil
  2. Kneed for a minute and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Clean the mushrooms and slice if necessary
  4. (Optional) Fry the bacon, let dry on kitchen paper and crumble. Add to the egg mixture (step 11)
  5. Lightly fry the mushrooms in a heavy iron skillet
  6. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and let cool
  7. After 30 minutes: preheat the oven to 180 ˚ C or 355 ˚ F
  8. Combine the egg with the cream
  9. Add lots of thyme and black pepper
  10. Add grated garlic
  11. Add the mushrooms
  12. Slice small cubes of taleggio
  13. Add the cheese to the mixture
  14. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface.
  15. Coat a 22 cm or 9-inch round baking tin with oil or butter
  16. Place the dough in the baking tin
  17. Add the mixture and distribute evenly
  18. Transfer to the oven for 35-40 minutes or until nice and golden
  19. Allow to cool for a few minutes
  20. Remove from the tin and let cool on a wire rack
  21. Serve lukewarm
PS

It tastes even better the next day!

An easy to make mushroom pie with rich flavours
Mushroom Pie ©cadwu

Mushroom Balls

6 March 2025

We were asked to prepare a vegetarian main dish for a buffet style dinner. We immediately knew what we wanted to cook: mushroom balls and oven baked vegetables. Tasty and colourful. Could we make it gluten free? Which in this case means not adding breadcrumbs to the mushroom mixture, so we needed to think about an alternative. We tried well cooked rice, but that didn’t do the trick. Next idea was to blender the rice and make a very sticky paste. It did what we hoped it would do: the mushrooms balls are firm, but not dense. Great! Plus, they go very well with the vegetables!

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of French Malbec with the Mushroom Balls. In general you’re looking for a long, full bodied red wine, smooth, with hints of berries and ripe dark fruit.

What You Need
  • 25 grams of dried Porcini
  • 150 grams of fresh Mushrooms (Button Mushrooms, Shiitake)
  • 1 Shallot
  • 2 cloves of Garlic
  • 1 sprig of fresh Oregano
  • 2 sprigs of Thyme
  • 1 sprig of Rosemary
  • 1 sprig of Sage
  • 40 grams of Rice
  • ½ beaten Egg
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Black Pepper
What You Do
  1. Boil the rice in water (with a pinch of salt) or in vegetable stock for 40 minutes. The rice should be thoroughly cooked.
  2. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and check for sand.
  3. Chop the shallot and fry in oil until translucent.
  4. Clean the fresh mushrooms, chop, add to the pan and fry on a higher heat.
  5. When the mushrooms are somewhat fried, add the chopped garlic for five minutes. Be careful not to colour the garlic.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool.
  7. Chop the soaked mushrooms. Add to the mixture.
  8. Use a kitchen knife to chop all herbs and then add these to the mixture.
  9. Blender half of the rice until it’s a sticky paste.
  10. Add remaining rice, paste and a relatively large amount of pepper to the mixture.
  11. Beat ½ egg and grate a generous amount of Parmesan Cheese.
  12. Add cheese and egg to the mixture.
  13. Pulse with a blender. The mixture should have granularity.
  14. Taste and add pepper and/or Parmesan if necessary.
  15. Allow the mixture to cool and transfer to the refrigerator.
  16. Preheat the oven to 180 °C or 355 °F.
  17. Use your hands to make balls, line a rack with baking paper and place the balls on the paper.
  18. Bake for 15-25 minutes until the balls are slightly coloured and firm.
  19. Allow to cool and leave for a few hours at room temperature.
  20. Preheat oven to 160 °C or 320 °F.
  21. Bake mixed, chopped vegetables (beetroot, parsnips, sweet potato, potato, butternut squash, parsley root, kohlrabi) by placing them in a large oven dish with plenty of olive oil and sprigs of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram in the oven for 20 minutes under aluminium foil at 160 °C or 320 °F and then 15-20 minutes at 180 °C or 355 °F without foil.
  22. Warm the mushroom balls in the oven in a separate oven dish.
  23. Combine just before serving.
  24. If gluten are okay, use half the rice (no need to make the sticky paste) and add breadcrumbs. The mixture will firmer and drier, so perhaps use 1 egg.
PS

This recipe is for two. The picture shows the result of the recipe times 2.

 
Mushroom Balls ©cadwu
Mushroom Balls ©cadwu

Mushrooms and Miso

23 January 2025

Shiitake is becoming more and more available. It has a unique flavour, savoury, meaty, earthy and it is rich in umami. The name is a combination of shii (a tree native to Japan and Korea, also known as the Japanese Chinquapin) and take (meaning mushroom, as in matsutake and maitake). The mushroom grows on decaying wood, not only on shii but also on other trees such as oaks and chestnuts. It’s fun to buy a shiitake log and grow your own mushrooms. 
In this dish we combine shiitake and oyster mushrooms. These two have very different structures, which adds value to the dish.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy your Mushrooms with Miso with a lightly oaked chardonnay. The oakiness of the wine will match well with the umami and miso flavours. The richness of the chardonnay will be very nice with the mushrooms.

What You Need
  • 100 grams Shiitake
  • 100 grams Oyster Mushrooms
  • Fresh Ginger
  • One Garlic Clove
  • One Scallion
  • Miso
  • Mirin
  • Soy Sauce (light)
  • Olive Oil
  • Black pepper
What You Do

Remove the stem of the shiitake, slice the caps and tear the oyster mushrooms. Fry in olive oil. Add thinly sliced white of the scallion. Add chopped garlic. Combine a teaspoon of miso with one tablespoon of mirin and one tablespoon of light soy sauce. If using thicker soy sauce, add some water. Mix and taste. It should be both salty and umami. Add some of the mixture to the mushroom. Coat the mushrooms with the miso mixture. Add more mixture if required. Be careful, you don’t want a sauce. When ready to serve add some black pepper, freshly grated ginger, the thinly sliced green of the scallion. Combine and serve. 

PS

Don’t throw the stems away! Simply add them to a pan with water, bring to a boil and leave to simmer for 30-60 minutes. Strain and store the broth. It freezes well.

Mushrooms and Miso ©cadwu
Shiitake ©Sharon Mollerus

Shiitake Salad

8 August 2024

We love mushrooms and are always keen to explore new recipes and ideas. This recipe for a salad is very much about the nutty flavour and the moist texture of the shiitake. An easy to make and delicious, aromatic salad with lots of umami and citrus.
We used Grains of Paradise (also known as Maniguette or Awisa). This West African spice was introduced in Europe in the 14th or 15th century as a substitute for black pepper. We like its peppery, citrusy flavour.

Wine Pairing

The fish sauce brings briny, caramel-like flavours with obviously some fishiness. The cilantro is very present with notes of citrus and pepper. The result is an aromatic, umami rich salad, best enjoyed with a glass of Pinot Blanc. We decided to open a bottle produced by Dr. Loosen. The winery was founded over 200 years ago and is well known for its Riesling and other excellent wines from the German Mosel region. In general, you’re looking for a white wine that is fruity and easy to drink, with gently acidity and some minerality.

What You Need
  • 150 grams of Shiitake
  • 2 cloves of Garlic
  • Olive Oil
  • Rice Vinegar
  • Thai Fish Sauce
  • Grains Of Paradise (Maniguette) or Black Pepper and Lemon Juice
  • Cilantro (Coriander)
  • Smoked Breast of Duck
What You Do

Remove the stems of the shiitake (they are chewy and fibrous). If necessary, clean the caps with kitchen paper. Slice. Finely chop the garlic. Warm a heave iron skillet, add olive oil and gently fry the shiitake. After a few minutes add the garlic. Keep on medium/low heat for a few minutes. Combine olive oil, rice vinegar and fish sauce. Ground grains of paradise and add to the dressing. The grains of paradise can be replaced with freshly grounded black pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Taste the dressing and adjust. Add the shiitake to the dressing and mix. Allow to cool somewhat. Add a generous amount of chopped cilantro. Mix again. Garnish with slices of smoked duck breast.

PS

More mushroom recipes on our mushroom page.

Shiitake Salad ©cadwu
Grains of Paradise (seed pods) ©cadwu
Shiitake ©Sharon Mollerus

Rose Fish

19 December 2022

One of our favourite starters! It’s light, full of flavours and it comes with various textures. The homemade pickled radishes are refreshing in combination with the fish and the mushrooms.

There are many names for the fish we use: rose fish, Norway haddock (perhaps because of its Latin name Sebastes norvegicus), ocean perch, roodbaars, Rotbarsch, vanlig uer and sébaste orangé. The meat is firm and flaky, the taste is fairly neutral with a touch of sweetness. Ideal to combine with shiitake and a light soy sauce.
The fillets are difficult to fry because the skin is rather thin and ideally you want it to become crispy and keep some of its beautiful colour.

Wine Pairing

A Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc with a touch of oak will be a perfect match with the mushrooms and the fish. Full bodied, elegant, balanced and with the aromas of ripe yellow fruit.
We enjoyed a glass of Révélation Pays d’Oc Chardonnay 2021, produced by Badet Clément with our Rose Fish and Shiitake.

What You Need

  • For the Rose Fish
    • two small Fillets of Rose Fish 
    • Olive Oil
  • For the Mushroom Mix
    • 100 grams Shiitake
    • 1 scallion
    • Light Soy Sauce
    • Olive Oil
    • Sesame Oil
  • For the Pickled Radishes
    • Red Radishes
    • Shallot
    • White Wine Vinegar
    • Sugar

What You Do – Pickled Radishes

Take a cup of white wine vinegar, add it to a bowl, add sugar, perhaps some water (depending on the acidity of the vinegar), mix very well and taste. The mixture should be both sweet and sour. Slice the radishes and chop the shallot. Add to the mixture, stir and leave in the refrigerator for a few hours. Over time the colours will blend. The vegetables will keep well for a few days.
Feel free to use the same approach with other (firm) small vegetables.

What You Do – Mushrooms

Clean the shiitake, remove the stems and chop. Fry in olive oil until juicy and soft. Add the chopped scallion. After a few minutes add some light soy sauce and one or two teaspoons of sesame oil. Tate and adjust.

What You Do – Rose Fish

Heat a non-stick pan and fry the fish in olive oil. Best is to start with the meat side, push the meat towards the pan and fry until nearly done. Turn the fish, fry for a few seconds and serve immediately on a hot plate with the mushrooms and pickles.

Rose Fish ©cadwu
Rose Fish ©cadwu

Walnut Sauce

7 November 2022

Michelin Award winning Japanese chef Akira Oshima is author of Yamazato, Kaiseki Recipes: Secrets of the Japanese Cuisine. The book contains recipes from the kitchen of the Yamazato restaurant in Amsterdam. It is amongst our favourite cookbooks. The recipes can be very challenging and time consuming as is getting hold of the right ingredients.
One of the recipes is for Takiawase, a mouth-watering combination of vegetables and fish. Every ingredient requires its own preparation and is simmered in its own dashi-based stock. The recipe of chef Oshima combines kabocha, eggplant, okra and shrimp. Indeed: four different kinds of homemade stock.

When shopping at Amazing Oriental we saw Garland Chrysanthemum, which made us think of another tasty dish, a combination of walnut sauce, chrysanthemum and shiitake called Shungiku Kurumiae. It’s actually two recipes, one for walnut sauce and one for chrysanthemum. The walnut sauce is a combination of roasted and blended walnuts, white miso, dashi, sake, light soy sauce and mirin (in that exact order). Very tasty with lots of umami and depth. It serves as a vinaigrette for the salad which is a combination of blanched and in dashi marinated chrysanthemum and grilled shiitake.

Yamazato, Kaiseki Recipes: Secrets of the Japanese Cuisine is available via the well-known channels, both in English and Dutch, second hand. The Dutch version is available via the webshop of the publisher for €34,50.

Drink Pairing

We prefer a glass of sake with our Shungiku Kurumiae, for instance a Junmai sake with fresh aromas and good acidity. The sake must be dry and well-balanced with a clean finish. You could enjoy a glass of white wine with the dish, provided it’s dry and mineral.

PS

We made too much walnut sauce for the salad, so we stored what was left in the refrigerator. But we were out of garland chrysanthemum (we wanted to use the remainder for our Matsutake dish) so what to do? The next day we fried some excellent organic pork belly and served it with Brussels sprouts and walnut sauce. Lovely combination!

Walnut Sauce ©cadwu
Yamazato Kaiseki Recipes Secrets of the Japanese Cuisine

More mushrooms!

28 March 2022

Mushroom is one of the first books by Johnny Acton, Nick Sadler and Jonathan Lovekin (photographs), published in 2001. The book offers some 70 recipes plus very interesting background information on the history of mushrooms and their hallucinating, psychedelic and culinary aspects. The book comes with many beautiful drawings and photographs. It has specific sections on cèpes, morels, chanterelles and truffles. It is very well written, fun to read and the recipes are accurate.

They have also written books on Soup, Preserves and one called The Complete Guide to Making, Cooking & Eating Sausages.

Recipes

One of the benefits of the book is that the recipes range from relatively easy to make (pasta with cèpes or clear soup with enoki for instance) to exotic and mouth-watering dishes (lobster and cauliflower fungus ravioli with saffron butter). The book is a great addition to more classic books on mushrooms such as The Mushroom Book by Michael McLaughlin, The Mushroom Feast by Jane Grigson or Antonio Carluccio’s Complete Mushroom Book.

In most cases it’s not too difficult to buy the required mushroom. Shopping at your local Asian toko will also help, for instance if you need shiitake, enoki or wood ear (they offer a recipe for a very nice Chinese chicken soup with ginger, pak choi and dried wood ear).

Our favourite? Perhaps their salad with shiitake, watercress and tofu. A modern, light dish with lots of flavours (cilantro, ginger, sesame oil, lemon).

Mushroom is available (in most cases second hand) via channels such as Amazon and e-Bay for between 10 and 25 euro.

Mushroom

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

Mushroom Tapenade

17 March 2022

Years ago our favourite green grocer was the shop of Joop and Trudi Petersen, close to Amsterdam’s China Town. Not only did they sell the tastiest vegetables, fruit and mushrooms, but they also sold homemade mash (the one made with potatoes and rapini (or broccoli rabe) was wonderful), desserts, ravioli with pumpkin and Trudi’s mushroom tapenade. When Joop turned 65 in 2008 they retired and closed the shop. Obviously, we asked for the tapenade recipe, but alas, all we got was a nice, friendly smile.

In our post about the Mushroom Book by Michael McLaughlin and Dorothy Reinhardt (Illustrator) we mentioned that the recipe for Mushroom Tapenade is amongst our favourites. His tapenade is a combination of mushrooms, garlic, various herbs, red wine, anchovies, black olives and capers. Very nice, tasty and powerful, but not as delicious as Trudi’s version.

Mushroom tapenade comes with lots of umami, thanks to the mushrooms and the olives. Thinking back of Trudi’s tapenade, we’re pretty sure she enhanced the umami flavor, probably by adding some oyster sauce from the toko next door. We think that the recipe below is very close to what she created.

What You Need

  • Fresh Button Mushrooms and Shiitake (ratio 2:1)
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • Olive Oil
  • Thyme and Rosemary
  • White Wine
  • Black Olives
  • Excellent Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper
  • Half a teaspoon of (Thai) Oyster Sauce

What You Do

Don’t use dried mushrooms. In general they have a nasty, bitter taste, not even close to the flavor, aromas and textures of fresh mushrooms.

  1. Clean and chop the mushrooms.
  2. Finely chop the rosemary, the thyme and the garlic.
  3. Fry the mushroom in olive oil in a heavy iron skillet.
  4. Reduce heat, add herbs and garlic.
  5. After 10 minutes add a splash of white wine.
  6. Continue on low heat and wait until the wine and juices have evaporated. No rush.
  7. Transfer the mushroom mix to a plate, let cool
  8. Chop a few black olives and add these to the mix.
  9. Transfer to a kitchen aid and on low-speed start adding excellent olive oil. The result should be a tapenade, so not smooth and not oily.
  10. Add black pepper to taste.
  11. Add a small amount (1/4 teaspoon to begin with) of (Thai) Oyster Sauce. Be very careful, it should only enhance the umami.
  12. Store in the refrigerator for at least one day before using.
Mushroom Tapenade ©cadwu
Thai Oyster Sauce ©cadwu

Earthly Delights

14 March 2022

The Mushroom Book by Michael McLaughlin and Dorothy Reinhardt (Illustrator) is a lovely, small book with some 35 recipes and 60 very delightful full-colour wood-cut illustrations. Just look at the cover! It’s the kind of book that we bought because it looks good. A book you simply want to have.

Only later did we find out that it discusses the history and other interesting back ground information of various mushrooms, including information on choosing, storing and preparing them. The book offers an introduction to the joy of cooking with mushrooms such as button mushrooms, morels, oyster mushroom, truffle, trompette de la mort, chanterelle, shiitake, cèpes and huitlacoche, a Mexican mushroom that grows on corn.
Michael McLaughlin is also known as co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook with recipes from Manhattan’s celebrated gourmet food shop.

Amongst our favourite recipes are Mushroom Tapenade and Raw Mushroom, Fennel and Provolone Salad.

The Mushroom Book was published in 1994. It’s available (in most cases second hand) via channels such as Amazon and e-Bay for something like 15 euro. Ii is an ideal and friendly introduction to the world of earthly delights. 

The Mushroom Book
The Mushroom Book