A Tale of Two Mushrooms from The Slanted Door

San Francisco Eater reported in 2014 that Charles Phan's SF waterfront establishment, The Slanted Door, was California's top grossing restaurant that year.  Serving Vietnamese cuisine, the restaurant secures the corner of the Ferry Building culinary complex with great views of the waterfront and Bay Bridge, and some of the most flavorful Asian cuisine you will find in a city known for its great food. I love Phan's story of opening at his first location and then becoming so successful that a larger space was needed.  In true entreprenuerial spirit (meaning: he took a huge risk and had a lot of obstacles to overcome), Phan bit the bullet and closed his original South of Market location and then orchestrated a wildly successful relaunch in the Ferry Building.  

With dishes like crispy wild Florida frog legs with Thai chiles  or banh bot loc gulf shrimp & pork belly tapioca dumplings, you can see why reservations can be hard to come by.  After trying for several months a couple of years ago to get a table on a Saturday night, I finally gave up and bought Phan's flagship cookbook, The Slanted Door.  Phan's talent for creating umami-packed vegetable dishes is why today's project - Roasted Mushrooms with Buckwheat Crepe Noodles - is probably my favorite plate made so far in this month of vegetable posts.  

King Trumpet Mushrooms:  Meaty, Tender & Meant for Great Things

I adapted this recipe to suit the ingredients I had on hand; it was 5 AM in the morning when I cooked this, and I was not interested in going to the store to pick up the things I was missing. Additionally, I had a few items on hand that I wanted to use up like kumquats from the over-ladened bush outside my kitchen window and fresh wood ear mushrooms that I'd picked up at Ranch 99 (the most amazing market - a huge Far Eastern megapolis filled with thousands of Asian foodstuffs with unfamiliar pictures and undecipherable labels).  

Buckwheat crepe batter poured over hot parchment

One ingredient called for in Phan's recipe was Yuba which is a thin, noodle-like tofu skin. I didn't have this, so I decided to try to construct a noodle out of egg whites instead. It dawned on me that I could make something like a crepe and then cut that into noodles. I had recently tried making David Lebovitz' recipe for buckwheat crepes, which are dark brown in color and have a very nutty/earthy taste and texture.  Building on this concept, I blended a little buckwheat flour with some eggs, milk, and spices to come up with a batter. I then heated a parchment-covered baking tray in the oven for a few minutes before pouring the egg mixture over it into a very thin layer.  

Gently pull the crepe off the parchment

Roll it into a log 

Slice it into "noodles"

The batter was baked for about 10 minutes, until it was firmly set.  The crepe peeled easily off the parchment, and I was able to roll it up then cut 1/2 inch pieces to make crepe strips.  They worked really well as noodle substitutes -- they were firm enough to hold together without tearing, yet porous enough to soak up the sauce for an amazing taste eruption when eaten. I also loved their color for this dish, because their dark color blended in so well with the mushrooms

The thing that really makes this dish sing is the infused oil which becomes a main part of the sauce.  Yotam Ottolenghi, master of Middle Eastern vegetarian cooking, uses a lot of sophisticated oil infusions in his recipes, and I was really excited to see one pop up in Phan's recipe as well. Blending some flavors I'd used before with Ottolenghi's preparations into Phan's recipe made an extra-special oil blend.  I ended up doubling the amount called for so I'd have leftovers to use in something else. 

Roasted wood ear mushrooms

Sliced, Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms

The recipe calls for roasted mushrooms, and the aroma of these and the crepes was overwhelmingly inviting so early in the morning. I had intended to save the finished product for dinner later that day but Bob and I could not resist and we ate the whole thing for breakfast instead.  Yum!  If the recipe was doubled, it would make a very hearty stand alone vegetarian main course for lunch or dinner.

RoastedMushrooms with Buckwheat Crepe Noodles
 Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 lb mixed fresh King Trumpet, thinly sliced, and Wood Ear mushrooms
4 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 cup egg whites (whites from about 3-4 eggs)
2 tbsp buckwheat flour
1/4 cup lowfat milk
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1 large shallot, sliced thinly
1 two inch long, 1 inch thick knob of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into fine julienned batons
3 pieces star anise
1 kumquat, thinly sliced, seeds removed

3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp splenda or sugar
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper and place in the oven as it preheats.  Mix the eggs, flour, milk and salt in a blender for 30 seconds, then let sit for 5 minutes so the flour becomes hydrated. Remove the baking tray from the oven and pour the crepe mixture over the parchment paper, spreading it out into a thin rectangular layer. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. When completely cooked and firm, remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Mix the shallots, ginger, star anise, and kumquat together in a small bowl or jar.  In a second microwave safe bowl, heat the oil in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes then pour over the shallot mixture. It should sizzle as you add it.  Stir to combine then set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes.

Slice the king trumpet mushrooms.  Line two baking trays with parchment and brush a layer of sesame oil over the parchment.  Place the mushrooms on the parchment, leaving space between them to prevent them from steaming each other.  Sprinkle with salt then brush the tops of the mushroom with additional oil. Roast in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes, until they begin to brown but before they become dry and crisp.

While the mushrooms are cooking, mix together the soy sauce, splenda or sugar, and cilantro into your serving bowl.  When the mushrooms are roasted, add them to the sauce and toss well.  Strain out about 1/3 cup of infused oil into the mushroom-noodle mix. (Reserve the rest for another use).   Scoop out about 2 tbsp of the shallot mixture from the oil, taking care to remove any pieces of star anise, then finely chop and mix in with the mushrooms.  Add the crepe noodles, toss lightly, and serve.

Conquest of the Red Giant

Today is day 3 of my challenge to make and post about vegetables, and I thought it would be a good idea to try to use up some of the abundance of greens from my garden.  I have an endless supply of swiss chard sprouting my mutant, 3 year old tree-plants which form creepy looking stalks that sprout bunches of tender swiss chard every few inches.

And then there is the red giant mustard.  Last September, I planted some heirloom Red Giant Mustard seeds but was disappointed because nothing sprouted -- until December, that is.  Somehow, about 10 plants grew stealthily under a tangle of fallen tree leaves, unnoticed until I decided to clean things up a bit to make some space for all the new seeds I intend to plant in a few weeks.  Red Giant Mustard is a really interesting plant.  It's leaves are very pretty, with hues of rust and purple appearing on the older growth. Eaten raw, it tastes exactly like super-pungent horseradish.  But when cooked, all the red color leaches out into the cooking water, leaving just mildly peppery, bright green leaves.

Scrolling through facebook, I came across David Lebovitz' post for Watercress Soup, and I decided to try making it with swiss chard and mustard leaves instead.  You can find his recipe here:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2016/02/watercress-soup-recipe/  (And when you get to his site, consider following him - you will not be disappointed if you love pastry, cheese, Paris, or the good things in life!).

I followed the recipe fairly closely, except I used about twice as much greens as he suggested (18-20 cups instead of 9 cups), and I used 3 cups water and 3 cups vegetable broth instead of the 6 cups of water he called for.  Also, he adds about a cup of frozen green peas to his soup but I didn't have any so I omitted them.  One last change - I used my high speed blender to mix the soup rather than an immersion blender. I don't think you can get a fine enough texture with an immersion blender, but is this is all you have I would suggest passing the end product through a fine sieve or chinois once you are done, to ensure it is as smooth as possible.

The end result was delicious.  I made this soup in about a half hour after coming home from an evening session with my personal torturer I mean trainer, and it was warm, creamy,and filling.   I tried it three ways - plain, with a dollop of greek yogurt, and with a few drops of preserved kumquat oil which I'd made a couple weeks ago.  All three ways tasted great and proved the versatility of this soup. I think you could add lemon, mint or numerous other garnishes to the basic base.

One last thought - if you are watching carbs (as I am supposed to be), you may not want to add the potatoes.  Instead, you can add a little xanthum gum powder (and I mean a little - like a teaspoon- because it is about 10x more powerful than corn starch as a thickening agent).  You can buy xanthum gum in many markets, where products like Bob's Red Mill flours are sold. It is commonly used in gluten-free bread and dough recipes so is usually available where gluten free flour is sold.

De-stemmed mustard leaves

20 cups of mustard and swiss chard leaves, along with peeled potatoes

The oddest thing - the red leaves turned bright green, and the broth turned pink

Soup has been pureed and returned to the dutch oven to warm.  It is amazingly creamy

A tasting bowl of soup garnished with some preserved kumquat oil