Think eating chicken of the woods is strictly an American thing? The continents separated a long time ago, but we still share many of the same mushrooms, at least as far as culinary purposes are concerned (specific species are another story).
Doing research with Jesse for The Wild Harvest show as we planned Episode 3 I was reminded of the Italian name for chicken of the woods: fungo del carrubo, the carrubo I can only assume referring to a host tree in the region.
That tree is the carob, which is interesting as I don't see many mushrooms growing with trees in the Fabaceae (legume family). Interesting, eh? After we shot the gnocchi for Episode 3, I had plenty of chicken of the woods leftover, so Italian chickens had to happen.
If you look online, there's really only one way that you'll see to cook mr. fungo del carrubo: a simple dish of braised mushrooms made juicy with tomato eaten with charred bread, preferably with a clove of fresh garlic rubbed into it (an optional addition).
Like just about everything, there's lots of ways you could riff on the dish and make it your own, for example: fresh tomatoes instead of passata (pureed and passed through a mill to remove seeds), garlic-no garlic, chili-no chili, or switch up the herbs to something like mint, etc.
This rendition sneaks in one of my favorite techniques for cooking garlic I learned from Chef Angelo Volpicelli from Rome. I slice garlic thin, then cook slowly in oil until it turns golden, not burnt, but perfectly golden.
When the garlic hits the exact shade of color, I add some hot chili, take the pan off the heat and swirl it for a minute, infusing all the hot oil with the aromas, then I add something to refresh the pan, typically white wine, tomato, or an ingredient that holds water, like leafy greens.
It's a great way to build flavor, but you'll want to make you're friends with garlic. Just about every pasta we used to make at the old Italian restaurant Trattoria Da Vinci started with garlic and oil cooked that way.
Then there's the herbs. You could use whatever tomato-friendly herbs you like here, but fresh Monarda fistulosa (also known as bee balm, wild oregano, and wild bergamot) is in season so I grabbed a handful. Ubiquitous in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and many other places, bergamot's rich in thymol, giving it a really savory quality, that, when paired with tomato, takes on the moniker of "pizza plant", since any tomato it touches will taste like it turned into a pizza.
If you haven't had it, M. fistulosa is really one of the most useful wild herbs you can easily forage for your locally-inspired pantry. I cook mostly with M. fistulosa, but there's plenty of cultivated versions too, (Monarda didyma being the most common I see--try the red flowers with fruit, especially ripe melon!) but they often have fruity tones to them that would make them taste strange with something deeply savory like the braised chicken mushrooms.
It's a great way to cook your chickens if you're used to just frying them up, and, of course would be good with plenty of other mushrooms, especially fungo de carrubo's cousin, la signorina (hen of the woods). Oh, and they're not pictured here, but for extra credit, consider grabbing some Sicilian castelvetrano olives, pitting them and tossing in a handful at the end.
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Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms
Vegan or Vegetarian Mushroom Recipes
Sicilian Chicken of the Woods (Fungo del Carrubo)
Ingredients
- 1 lb young tender chicken of the woods sliced ¼ -½ inch thick
- 1 large clove garlic
- ¼ cup mild olive oil or extra virgin mixed with flavorless oil, like grapeseed plus a tablespoon or two extra if the pan threatens to dry out, along with a drizzle at the end.
- 1 large shallot or a small yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon sliced Monarda fistulosa fresh mint or oregano
- Crushed red pepper flakes or hot chili to taste
- 1 tablespoon capers or a small handful of Catelvetrano olives (see note)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ¼ cup water or stock
- 1.5 cups seedless tomato puree or tomato sauce (see note)
- Grilled high quality bread preferably slightly charred, for serving
- A couple whole fresh garlic cloves, as needed for rubbing into the bread
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a wide pan with high sides a cast iron skillet will work, but isn’t ideal as the sauce is acidic.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until they've given up their moisture, then push them to the side of the pan, add a little extra oil if the pan looks dry, or if your mushrooms were very juicy. Add the garlic to the clean spot of the pan, then arrange the pan off-center on the burner so that the heat is focused on the garlic.
- Sweat the garlic in the oil slowly, taking your time until it's light golden and aromatic, then add the shallots and cook for a minute.
- Add the crushed red pepper directly to the garlic and shallot, cook for a moment more, then deglaze the pan with the wine, tossing in the bay leaf. Reduce the sauce by half, then add the tomato puree, water, capers or olives, bergamot or other herbs and cook until the mixture is thickened lightly and the mushrooms are coated with a rich sauce, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lightly oil the bread and char on a grill. It should have good black spots, but not by ashy. Rub a garlic clove gently into the toasted bread slices, pressing down so that it "melts" into the bread a bit--don't go crazy, a little goes a long way here.
- Double check the seasoning of the mushrooms for salt and chili, adjust as needed, then serve the stewed mushrooms with the grilled garlic bread on the side. Drizzle some oil over the top to give the dish an attractive sheen.
- Spoon the mushrooms and their sauce on the bread and eat. Leftovers make killer mushroom hoagies a la cheesy meatball sub sandwiches.
Gina
I used to quickly tire of finding chicken of the woods (ugh, not another chicken!), and once upon a time, it was my least favorite mushroom--until THIS recipe. It was also this recipe that inspired me to plant M. fistulosa in my garden a couple of years ago. Thank you, Alan Bergo!
Alan Bergo
Hey thanks Gina
Rick
Just found a super fresh chicken of the woods about 2 hours ago. Brought it home cleaned it and googled what to do with chicken of the woods? Your Fungo del Carrubo recipe came up. I really don’t think I can put into words how delicious this was!!! Sitting here now with my belly full, I can’t imagine making it any other way!!! Thank you so much for your recipe!! Also just subscribed!
Alan Bergo
Hey that’s great thanks Rick! I love this recipe.
Mark
Grazie mille for this dish. We’ve made it three times in the last nine months. It seems to hit all the notes that we love in a sauce: citrus, tomato umami, heat. And sweet, sweet carmelized shallot. My goodness. This time, we used it as a pasta sauce. You don’t state specifically whether to keep the garlic in the pan, so I get it good and golden in the pan… and then discard it for personal reasons… We used Sicilian bomba for the chili. No bee balm, so we used lemon balm, thyme and basil. This time I had the good fortune to find young white-pored COTW. You have an extraordinary recipe here, one that we would make for friends, although I would want to know that they have tolerated COTW before. You could sub other store-bought fungi (shiitake?), I suppose, or perhaps chicken, though real chicken would make for a completely different, and inferior, dish. As an aside, our very good neighbor loves mushrooms and trusts my ID skills. We had a big haul of COTW, so we shared some with her. My wife brought it over, and she immediately ate one of the raw pieces! Once I heard, I sent a text and called: “Don’t eat it uncooked!” I reassured her that it wouldn’t kill her, but that it wouldn’t be a great experience, either. Plus, raw chicken of the woods doesn’t smell good to me.
Alan Bergo
Glad you're liking it!. It's a great introductory recipe and comes together pretty quick.
Carol Hunt
Looks wonderful! Here in my part of Los Angeles, carob trees are common landscaping trees and are host to L gilbertsonii. We don't get a lot of edible mushrooms here, so they are a welcome find. I harvested a 14-pounder in my neighborhood last October! Gave some away, froze the rest, and will definitely try this recipe. Foragers I know suggest boiling or steaming COWs prior to cooking them further.
Alan Bergo
Hey Carol, yes, sometimes chickens should be par cooked like that, but it's only species that grow on coniferous trees, L. conifercola, gilbertsonii, etc. Sulphureus and cincinnatus don't require that, but some people have an allergy to all chickens in general, which further complicates things.
Travis Brown
Delicious! Tried it last night, and even the kids liked it.
Travis Brown
Looking forward to trying this. I have found COW on dead honey locust occasionally in the fall. Interesting to learn about the Italian legume host. I have heard not to eat them from black locust (another Fabacaea), but I'm not sure how true that is as long as you cook them well.
Alan Bergo
Travis, yes, to my knowledge, most chickens, but particularly those that aren't oak parasites need to really be thoroughly cooked. L. gilbertsonii for example.
Mariane
Wonderful recipe, I had sent it to my college roommate because she found one back in Virginia earlier in the Spring. Today I found the most pristine chicken of the woods out here in Oregon. On the first days in two weeks that we've had any sun and it was a welcome sight to see that beautiful yellow orange mushroom on the stump. This is so incredible recipe.
Jacqui
OK, so, today I scored a 3,5 kg perfect young chicken. I am pretty pleased with myself.
I made this, more or less, for dinner, though we ate it with fresh pasta because that had been the plan before the mushroom showed up.
I'm saving a fair bit for chicken-fried chicken (though the picatta looks really good too...) for Friday lunch when my daughter is supposed to arrive from The Hague, where she has moved, but there is still at least 2.5 kg of mushroom for me to process (or eat :-)) over the next few days... And I already have a bunch of jars of pickled black-staining polyphore and few of pickled button slippery jacks in my basement. So I don't think pickling is the answer. What to do what to do...
Tim Maguire
I love this! It's been a long time since I've found a chicken or a hen of the woods, but I'll be practising your slow-cooked finely sliced garlic tip until I find another one again.