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

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Matsutake Smothered Grouper, with Kohlrabi and Spinach

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matsutake smotered grouper with kohlrabi and spinachWhen I was a kid, fish was typically some frozen fish sticks pulled out of the freezer for a quick meal. I would drown them in lemon juice, the strong, concentrated stuff that comes in a green bottle, and I loved it. The fish, once crispy, would begin to get soggy with the lemon juice, in hindsight it sounds pretty gross now.

At the first “real” restaurant I worked at, Melvin’s on the lake in Spicer MN, I learned how to do some more interesting things with fish. Sometimes we would cook salmon on a cedar plank, which was very chic back then, and still has it’s place. We would prepare walleye a couple different ways: breaded and fried, cut into strips dredged in flour to make “fingers” or simply baked, topped with butter substitute (icky stuff called “whirl”) and seasoned with a whole bunch of Lawry’s or dried lemon pepper from a shaker.

When I got to the cities and started working with a chef from Rome, I started to glean a little bit more about different varieties of fish and how they might be cooked. Angelo, the chef, was skilled in cooking all sorts of seafood. We would make a fishy stew called “pescatora” made with clam juice, squid and anchovies, which was then added to freshly cooked pieces of fish, a bit of tomato sauce and used as the base for seafood ragus, soups and pasta.

Occasionally Angelo would run weekend specials,  although he complained about having to cater to American tastes. I remember one special called “penne al whiskey” that was made with bacon, cream, and cheese to appeal to the fat loving palettes of our St. Paul clientele. It wasn’t really the lightest dish, especially since we used it to sauce about 1/3 lb of pasta per portion!

Sometimes he really made home-runs though, and I remember all of them. One that stood out in my mind was a simple entree using grouper and button mushrooms. Angelo would lightly bake the grouper to par cook it, then put it back in the oven smothered in a heap of button mushrooms he had tossed with chunks of cold butter and chopped rosemary.

As the fish cooked in the  oven, the milkfat in the butter caramelized and lent the mushrooms a toasted, nutty flavor as well as basting the fish as it cooked. The fish wasn’t seared on high heat like I often think fish should be  it was almost steamed under the mushrooms. The final product though was awesome, the grouper stayed moist and juicy, showcasing the texture of such a rich, delicate fish. It was served simply, nestled on some quickly wilted spinach, and smothered under the pile of the mushrooms it was baked with.

A while ago I spied some  grouper at the fish market where I buy seafood and wanted to make an updated version of the dish, tweaking it just a little, using a few interesting ingredients. I wanted to keep the spinach, but felt some other vegetable textures were in order, nothing too strongly flavored though, since I had a secret ingredient I was going to be using. Kohlrabi is a very mild vegetable that tastes a bit like cabbage and won’t steal the show. I thought I would do a mini study of how it can be used in two different ways: shaved raw and macerated, also diced and cooked like you would a potato.

The secret ingredient was my favorite part of the dish though, and a large part of the inspiration for creating it. Instead of the button mushrooms we had used before, I was going to smother the grouper in aromatic matsutake, which is one of the greatest mushrooms I’ve found to compliment fish.

Why are matsutake so good with fish? Well, their flavors share a few distinct similarities. Neither matsutake or most fish would like to be served with cheese. Both fish and matsutake benefit from really simple, clean preparations. Matsutake just have this aroma, some say it’s cinnamon, some say its metallic, one of the scents my fellow cooks and I pick out from it is something almost fishy, its a bit hard to describe.

The aroma of matsutake is strong, and complex. I like to use them alone, without any other mushrooms in the mix, as it will overpower other species. Cooking them in a pan with something like a white button mushroom would also dilute their flavor somewhat, you would still taste mostly matsutake, but it would be weakened, less intense. That’s not really what you want when you’re cooking one of the most expensive mushrooms in the world.

The grouper turned out just as good as I remember. Recreating a memory from my past to share was much more delicious though.

matsutake mushroom smothered grouper with kohlrabi and spinach

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Matsutake-Smothered Grouper, with Kohlrabi and Spinach

Serves 4 as a light entree, you could make it more substantial by serving some rice or roasted potatoes alongside Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Grouper, Kohlrabi, Matsutake
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • four 6oz filets of grouper
  • 1 cup peeled kohlrabi diced 1/4 inch
  • Kohlrabi peeled and shaved thin with a vegetable peeler into ribbons, about 7-8 slices/person
  • 8 ounces fresh matsutake sliced 1/2 inch thick, caps rubbed with a towel and stems peeled with a vegetables peeler to remove debris (reserve the trim for making magnificent matsutake stock)
  • 2-3 tbsp flavorful oil, like walnut or sesame
  • Kosher salt and pepper
  • 1 lb spinach trimmed and washed

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Next prepare the vegetables. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the spinach and cook for 10 seconds, then place it in some ice water to cool. Remove the spinach, squeeze out the water, and reserve.
  • Peel and dice the kohlrabi. Cut a large square from another kohlrabi (I cut mine into a size of about 1 inch by 4 inches to make perfect rectangles, but you don't have to) Shave off thin ribbons of kohlrabi and season lightly with salt and a dash of vinegar or lemon juice, then set the slices aside to macerate and soften.
  • Place the grouper in a cast iron skillet or greased baking sheet (you want to prevent sticking) Season the grouper with salt and pepper. Mix the matsutake in a bowl with the oil, season with salt and pepper, then smother each fish with 2 oz of mushrooms.
  • Bake the fish for 20 minutes or until just cooked through. While the fish is cooking, saute the kohlrabi until soft then add the spinach season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach and diced kohlrabi on a plate, topping with the grouper and matsutake. Finish the plate by garnishing with some curls of the shaved kohlrabi.

More

Guide to Matsutake (Pine Mushrooms)

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dan Farmer

    February 11, 2014 at 10:56 am

    Drooling on my keyboard, dammit!

    Reply
  2. Yuliya Pruzhanskaya

    October 16, 2017 at 4:37 pm

    Just made this but with halibut, because I couldn’t find any grouper. And the matsutake were ones I found on the coast of Washington. Making the kohlrabi peels was hard but tasted soooo good with the fish.

    Reply

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Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
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