Chicken of the woods mushrooms

On one of our hikes, I looked over and spotted a pot of gold in the woods! Not really, but it may as well have been. The gold we found was chicken of the woods mushrooms, growing in the woods, right there in front of our faces. Now, we're not mushroom foragers and usually don't pick things out of the forest we don't know, but these mushrooms are easily identifiable. We checked with local intelligent people and the internet to confirm that they were in fact what we though. We grabbed as many as we could and took them home, not believing that we just gotten a ton of free food.

Chicken of the woods mushrooms are called that because they have the texture of chicken and tastes like mushrooms, a vegetarian delight. Immediately the wheels in our culinary minds begin spinning as we conceptualize the many dishes we can make. We decide to create dishes from around the world and pay homage to specific countries and their cuisine.

We came up with more dishes than we made, but we felt that we should quit while we were ahead,not overdo the mushroom thing even though I don't think that's possible since all of the dishes taste so different.

We started with a local dish, an homage to where we live, right here in beautiful Maine.

 

Pan seared scallops with braised chicken of the woods mushrooms and roasted kale. Every element of this dish is local which is the way we should all be eating.

 

Chicken "of the woods" salad sandwich with pea shoots, caramelized onions, and homemade potato chips. This is our take on an American classic. The mushrooms have an amazing texture that mimics actual chicken meat. Pea shoots are an underutilized accompaniment which add a delicate freshness to the sandwich.

 

"Spaghetti and meatballs". Ground chicken of the woods mushroom meatballs with spaghetti squash, pumpkin seeds, and shaved pecorino. The key to this dish is grinding the mushrooms in a food processor.  Substitute this for the meat you would put in a meatball recipe. We seared the meatballs to get a nice crust and then slowly cooked the them in a spicy tomato sauce. The spaghetti is simply made by roasting the squash and then pulling the insides out with a fork. It comes out looking like perfect angel hair pasta.

 

BBQ chicken of the woods mushrooms with local organic Heiwa tofu, roasted corn, cheddar, and red onion. The BBQ sauce was made with roasted cherry tomatoes and local honey instead of corn syrup ridden ketchup. There is no reason to use a pre-made shitty product when you can easily make it yourself. This dish was so delicious it made us cry.

 

Chicken of the woods mushrooms with mole, homemade queso fresco and pickled red onion on a homemade flour tortilla. The original photo has some other elements, but we ate it too quick to even take a photo first. Homemade mole takes a bit of work, but it's well worth it. Flour tortillas are very easy to pull off, even at home, and it's a shock that ALL Mexican restaurants don't make their own. Store bought tortillas almost always taste of preservatives and never taste fresh.

It was a great experience working with these mushrooms to create dishes that were tasty, healthy, and local. You never know what you're going to find in the woods that you can eat. **Kids, don't try this at home...or do.