Apples Onions and Chicken Of the Woods.
Possibly the biggest issue I have with chicken of the woods is preparation. It can get too dry, crumbly and often does not have a lot of taste. I use chicken of the woods for pizza (see previous posts), barbecue mushroom burgers, and stir fry. It can be good if kept moist, but is more or less just a substitute for chicken. However, in this dish chicken does not work real well, but chicken mushroom works fantastically. This is likely my favorite dish using chicken of the woods and overall one of the most none traditional mushroom dishes I make. In general it is just a vegetarian twist on apples onions and bacon, substituting mushroom for the bacon, but it works really well.
Ingredients (serves 2 or 3 as a side dish 1 as a main dish)
1 medium Apple – I use early apples right off the tree but Granny Smith work
1 medium onion
A little less then a ¼ cup of brown sugar
Maple seasoning rub – If you want to make this up go ahead, but I just buy it
2 tablespoons butter or oil – you a can put in way more but I like to keep it light on the fats
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 ½ to 2 cups chicken of the woods
Cut up the apple, onion, and mushrooms as shown. Get rid of any of the mushroom that is not tender or crumbles. It will not get tender it will be dry and disappointing.
Fry the apple an onion for 3 to 4 min. in a little butter
Add your mushroom, brow sugar, seasoning, and ½ cup of water. Boil down then add the other ½ cup and boil down. This will cook the mushroom thoroughly.
Now add the last of the butter and the cayenne pepper, fry a minute or so longer.
Serve hot.
All of this takes about 20 min.
If the mushroom is not sweet and tender do not simmer off as much liquid next time or add more butter. This is not meant to be a fancy dish. I could add red wine, cinnamon and a dash of …… I don’t I like simple, quick, ways to cook mushrooms.
Happy Hunting
PS I show it with rice, but that is just because I wanted rice with lunch today.
erieforage 