Get creative with summer mushrooms: Here’s how restaurant chefs are using these seasonal umami-bombs – Salon
While white mushrooms and the ubiquitous baby bellas are popular in supermarkets across America, summer brings out more uniquely shaped and flavored mushroom varieties, ripe for creativity in the kitchen.
Low in calories and fat and high in savory umami flavor, mushrooms have been dubbed nutritional powerhouses, packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Better yet, the funghi are versatile — dozens of varieties can be served raw, pickled, seared, sautéed and even blended with ground…….
While white mushrooms and the ubiquitous baby bellas are popular in supermarkets across America, summer brings out more uniquely shaped and flavored mushroom varieties, ripe for creativity in the kitchen.
Low in calories and fat and high in savory umami flavor, mushrooms have been dubbed nutritional powerhouses, packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Better yet, the funghi are versatile — dozens of varieties can be served raw, pickled, seared, sautéed and even blended with ground meats to help stretch protein and preserve the environment.
We asked five chefs which mushrooms excite them in summer and what they do with this power ingredient to make the most of the season’s finds.
Marinate wood ear mushrooms
Wood ear mushrooms are brown, grow on wood and resemble the shape of ears. This variety is typically dried in grocery stores and can be found fresh at New York’s greenmarkets in the summer.
“I love cooking with different kinds of mushrooms, so I get really excited when wood ear mushrooms arrive at the farmers market,” says Institute of Culinary Education alum Simone Tong, chef-owner of Little Tong and Silver Apricot, both in New York. “They’re very popular in my native China, and I love the earthy flavor and crunchy texture they bring to a dish. At Little Tong, I serve them marinated on top of fresh liangban scallops with celtuce (a Chinese lettuce), trout roe, goji berries, grapefruit tapioca pearls and fermented chili brown butter sauce. Then, the whole dish is presented tableside in a cloud of hickory-smoked tea.”
To pick high-quality wood ears, Tong looks for whole, succulent and firm mushrooms. They can also be added to stir fries for texture, sautéed with other vegetables or simmered in broth or soups.
Sauté wild mushrooms
Wild mushrooms are foraged in forests and coastal areas, with popular American varieties often found in the Pacific Northwest. Regionally, wild mushroom varieties vary in flavor, shape and texture, and many are commercially cultivated in America.
“When I’m shopping for mushrooms at markets, I look for a few things: variety, price and the care that has been taken to make sure they aren’t broken or damaged,” says Janelle Reynolds, former executive chef at Austin, Texas’ Rosedale Kitchen & Bar. She recommends checking Asian supermarkets for high-end, affordable options, though currently, she’s vibing with Texas-grown funghi.
Chef Reynolds has featured the Texas-grown, cultivated mushrooms as a side dish. “The mushrooms are simply sautéed with garlic and shallots, a bit of white wine and finished with butter,” she explains. “We finish them with lemon zest and fresh herbs from our culinary garden.”
A cultivated mix of Texas-grown mushrooms at Rosedale (Photo courtesy of Rosedale)</…….
