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Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Lobster Mushroom Crusted Walleye, Winter Wild Rice

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lobster mushroom crusted walleye

Wondering what to do with all those dried lobster mushrooms? Here’s a great technique.

At a restaurant I used to work at, the signature dish was veal tenderloin crusted with ground porcini and espresso. The first night I did a stage trying to get a job, they offered me some chow, whatever I wanted off of the menu. Naturally I wanted to try the veal.

The tenderloins were rolled in the porcini mixture and seared, then served with some linguine, garlic butter and shiitakes, as well as choron sauce. The espresso overtook the porcini completely, but I always remembered the combo, and how the chef used ground mushrooms as a seasoning.

Fast forward a couple years and I’m juggling a massive fruit of lobster mushrooms. I pickled them, preserved them whole in butter, and dried them. All the preservation methods were good, but I noticed drying the lobster mushrooms really seemed to bring out their shellfish flavor.

dried lobster mushrooms

One night in the winter, we had a chef’s table that requested fish. The old veal dish popped into my head and I thought: “man I should crust the fish with lobster mushrooms!”. The chef”s table loved it, and it became a staple technique in our kitchen.

lobster mushroom crusted walleye

Make sure to dredge the fish quickly, Dried mushrooms will clump if the fish is left to sit in them for too long.

Crusting fish with dried mushrooms serves a couple purposes. We use only with freshwater fish where I work, and many are lacking in natural oils that can insulate them from overcooking, a nice dredge in some flour can help this, and acts like a layer of fat. Some freshwater fish too (especially whitefish) can be difficult to sear and crisp their skin: if the pan is too hot the skin burns on the edges, if it isn’t hot enough the skin sticks to the pan and rips off.  Not only does this method helps the fish not stick, but adds a really great lobster mushroom flavor.

This winter, I thought It would be fun to do with walleye, Minnesota’s state fish. Alongside it is a lobster mushroom broth, and a fun wild-rice root vegetable sub-recipe, since there is pretty much nothing else left in the local cellars right now.

Cutting Boneless Walleye Filets

Walleye and pike have plenty of bones, but with a little effort you can remove them. Cutting off the boneless, meaty portion of the walleye filet might seem like a waste, but you can save the scrap for mousse, dumplings, or soup. You don’t have to cut your filets like this, but it helps the fish cook evenly and makes a nice presentation.

boneless walleye filet

Removing the middle section of the filet takes out the pin bones and makes an attractive, even filet.

lobster mushroom crusted walleye
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Lobster Mushroom Crusted Walleye

Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Lobster Mushrooms, Walleye

Equipment

  • Spice grinder

Ingredients

  • 2 whole skinless walleye filets
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Flavorless oil, as needed for cooking, a few tablespoons
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • Dried lobster mushrooms, as needed

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a vita mix blender spice grinder, grind the lobster mushrooms to a powder. You can sift the mushrooms to get them really fine, but I kind of like leaving chunks in it, since the butter rehydrates them a little at the end of cooking.
  • If desired, de-bone the walleye filets and cut into even, rectangular filets. Heat a saute pan with searing oil like grapeseed or canola, as well as a tsbp of unsalted butter, the milk solids in the butter help the mushrooms not burn.
  • Season the walleye filets lightly with salt and pepper, then dredge each one in ground lobster mushrooms and put them immediately in the pan.
  • Cook until the lobster mushroom crust is golden brown and aromatic on each side, adding some more unsalted butter at the end of cooking if needed to ensure the crust doesn't burn. When the walleye is cooked through and flakes, serve.



 

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Winter Wild Rice

Yield: about 3 cups
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Parched wild rice

Ingredients

  • 1 cup parched (natural) wild rice This is the expensive stuff, it will cook in 20 minutes.
  • 1 cup mixed root vegetables such as turnips, rutabagas, and winter radishes, diced 1/4 inch
  • 1/2 cup sweet onions diced 1/4 inch
  • Water
  • Kosher salt
  • Unsalted butter as needed for cookingn roots, a tbsp or two
  • 1/4 cup toasted black walnuts optional
  • 1 Tbsp flat leaf pasley roughly chopped
  • 1 cup flavorful broth, like chicken, mushroom, etc (optional, for serving) I used chicken broth infused with lobster mushrooms

Instructions

  • Spread the wild rice on a cookie sheet and inspect for rocks or foreign particles. Rinse the wild rice under running water. Add the wild rice to a pot with a 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then turn the heat to low and cook for 25 minutes. Allow the wild rice to continue cooking by steaming while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  • Saute the onion in some butter and a pinch of salt until translucent, then add the roots and cook, covering the pan and adding a little water to make sure the pan doesn't dry out. When the roots are tender, but not mushy, about 5 minutes, remove them and add to the wild rice. Finally add the toasted black walnuts, season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper, and reserve until needed.

Plating

  • Keep the rice mixture warm and heat the broth.
  • Saute the walleye per above. Before serving, mix a little fresh parsley into the rice if you like.
  • Serve the wild rice in bowls with a small ladle of broth, top each with a filet of walleye, and serve.

More Lobster Mushrooms 

lobster mushroom crusted walleye

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dan Farmer

    March 31, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    That looks and sounds amazing, Alan. So sorry to hear about the glut of lobster mushrooms you had to deal with, though. If you ever again have to find a way how to reduce your supplies, let me know. I might have an idea.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      March 31, 2014 at 4:38 pm

      Yeah, next time we get together I’ll throw ya some, dried lobsters are fun to play with. Thanks Dan!

      Reply
  2. Dan Farmer

    March 31, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    Got a tuna steak that I’m gonna try this with tomorrow. Got shrooms to use up!

    Reply
    • Dan Farmer

      April 1, 2015 at 6:07 pm

      Wow! I almost didn’t do it. I started thinking perhaps I needed to do something more conceptually correct with tuna than lobster mushrooms, like mango salsa or whatever. I am very glad that I stayed with the plan. It worked extremely well. Thanks for the tip, Alan!

      Reply
      • Alan Bergo

        April 2, 2015 at 8:20 pm

        Glad you liked it Dan, it’s a favorite preparation of mine.

        Reply

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Alan Bergo
I made vegan fish sauce from ramp juice. You tak I made vegan fish sauce from ramp juice. 

You take the pure juice of the leaves, mix it with salt, Koji rice, and more chopped fresh ramp leaves, then ferment it for a bit. 

After the fermentation you put it into a dehydrator and cook it at 145-150 F for 30 days. 

The slow heat causes a Maillard/browning reaction over time. 

After 30 days you strain the liquid and bottle it. It’s the closest thing to plant-based fish sauce I’ve had yet. 

The potency of ramps is a pretty darn good approximation of the glutamates in meat. But you could prob make something similar with combinations of other alliums. 

The taste is crazy. I get toasted ramp, followed by mellow notes from the fermentation. Potent and delicate at the same time. 

I’ve been using it to make simple Japanese-style dipping sauces for tempura etc. 

Pics: 
2: Ramp juice 
3: Juicy leaf pulp 
4: Squeezing excess juice from the pulp
5: After 5 days at 145F 
6: After 30 days 
7: Straining through Muslin to finish

#ramps #veganfishsauce #experimentalfood #kojibuildscommunity #fermentation #foraging
Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Oeufs de Gaulle is a classic morel recipe Jacques Pepin used to make for French president Charles de Gaulle. 

You bake eggs in a ramekin with shrimp topped with creamy morel sauce and eat with toast points. 

Makes for a really special brunch or breakfast. Recipe’s on my site, but it’s even better to watch Jacques make it on you tube. 

#jacquespepin #morels #shrimp #morilles #brunchtime
Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each Morels: the only wild mushroom I count by the each instead of the pound. 

Good day today, although my Twin Cities spots seem a full two weeks behind from the late spring. 2 hours south they were almost all mature. 

76 for me and 152 for the group. Check your spots, and good luck! 

#morels #murkels #mollymoochers #drylandfish #spongemushroom #theprecious
The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natu The first time I’ve seen fungal guttation-a natural secretion of water I typically see with plants. 

I understand it as an indicator that the mushrooms are growing rapidly, and a byproduct of their metabolism speeding up. If you have some clarifications, chime in. 

Most people know it from Hydnellum 
peckii-another polypore. I’ve never seen it on pheasant backs before.

Morels are coming soon too. Mine were 1 inch tall yesterday in the Twin Cities. 

#guttation #mushroomhunting #cerioporussquamosus #pheasantback #naturesbeauty
Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a Rain and heat turned the flood plain forest into a grocery store. 

#groceryshopping #sochan #rudbeckialaciniata #foraging
Italian wild food traditions are some of my favori Italian wild food traditions are some of my favorite. 

Case in point: preboggion, a mixture of wild plants, that, depending on the reference, should be made with 5-23 individual plants. 

Here’s a few mixtures I’ve made this spring, along with a reference from the Oxford companion to Italian food. 

The mixture should include some bitter greens (typically assorted asters) but the most important plant is probably borage. 

Making your own version is a good excercise. Here they’re wilted with garlic and oil, but there’s a bunch of traditional recipes the mixture is used in. 

Can you believe this got cut from my book?!

#preboggion #preboggiun #foraging #traditionalfoods
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