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Monday, September 24, 2012

Chicken of the Woods (+spätzle)

We went mushroom hunting a month or so ago at Breakheart Reservation, with our friends Carly and Jason.  We found lots of mushrooms on that trip - including black spiky boletes and one large frilly mushroom we got particularly excited about, thinking it might be Hen of the Woods (Maitake). When we got home and looked more carefully at the identification guides we decided that it was actually probably a Berkeley's Polypore and supposed to be way less tasty, so we didn't end up eating it. Even so, we were all very enthused about more mushroom hunts soon...

Black spiky bolete aka Old Man of the Woods
aka Strobilomyces floccopus (photos by Carly)
Berkeley's Polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi)




















S+I were thinking of going to a party in a cabin in the woods with C+J on Friday night, but Seb's mum is in town right now and we ended up doing some more Boston-y tourist-suitable stuff.  But while we were down in Rhode Island on Saturday I got a text from Carly saying they'd found masses of Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus: this is different from Hen of the Woods, and is supposed to have the taste and texture of chicken) on a night hike near the cabin and did we want to come help them eat it?  Ohhhhhh yes!

The mushroom was indeed huge, and beautiful: red-orange on top and creamy coloured underneath, and quite thick and substantial. They cleaned it and chopped it into chunky pieces, then fried it in olive oil / butter, with onions and salt and pepper. We ate it with spätzle: Seb was able to show off his authentic Swabian spätzle-making skills (while teasing his mother about her never having made it before despite being a 'Schwäbische Hausfrau', sort of).

The spätzle came out really well, so I thought I'd make a note of the dough recipe we used - since I have some eggs at the moment perhaps a repeat effort could be a good idea?!

(quantities below make enough for two people)

1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 pinch freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together flour, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Beat eggs well, and add alternately with the milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Rest in the fridge for an hour or so (not essential).

When ready to cook, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Spread about a ladleful of spätzle dough thinly on a smooth chopping board, then hold it over the water and use a large knife with a flat, smooth blade to scrape off the dough, making small, slim worms of spätzle fall into the water. Watch each batch rise to the water's surface then cook for a minute or two while floating, then fish them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a colander. Keep the cooked spätzle warm and repeat with the remaining dough until it is all done.

Finally, either toss or saute the spätzle in olive oil or butter, and optionally garnish with parsley.


                                  (Video of spätzle forming technique: Seb on spätzle in front, Jason on chicken of the woods behind)

Spätzle is really simple, but these worked very well so I thought it was worth hanging onto the recipe. I think the egg is relatively important, but it would be easy to make them without dairy (and likely possible to make them without egg, probably using a little raising agent for lightness and some gram flour for eggy taste and colour).

The mushroom was wonderful - really substantial, with a dense, almost dry texture, and a mild taste. It really was a bit like chicken, taste and texture wise - funny for S to try it as he has never knowingly eaten chicken.

Now I am just wishing I knew where to find more equally awesome, edible mushrooms...

Note: Alvin says that Chicken of the Woods is really best eaten raw.  Not entirely convinced, but now we know that we don't have any adverse reactions to it perhaps next time we can try it (if there is a next time)...
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