¾cupsblended olive oilhigh quality (you can use extra virgin but it will coagulate in the fridge and will need to be brought to room temperature)
½cupwater
½teaspooncrushed pepper flakes
Instructions
Salsa Verde
Blanch the herbs in boiling lightly salted water, then immdiately shock in an ice bath. Squeeze the water from the herbs and chop roughly, then combine in the bowl of a highspeed blender and puree with the remaining ingredients except the water.
Process the mixture to a fine or coarse puree, whatever you like, afterwords, mix in the water to lighten the sauce. Taste the sauce, adjust as needed for acid or salt, then transfer to a labeled, dated container and reserve until needed in the refrigerator.
The sauce can also be made simply by mincing herbs and adding the rest of the ingredients, but I often prefer to puree in the blender, especially if I’m short of time.
Hen of the woods steaks
Start the coals for the grill (I like to use a chimney for easy lighting). Meanwhile, clean the hens well, either by inspecting while whole, or breaking apart into large clusters and dipping in water. Large hen of the woods can also be sprayed with hose before they're allowed inside.
Cut the mushrooms into 6 ounce or so pieces, the mushroom slices should be thick enough to handle with a pair of grill tongs, like a piece of meat. When the coals are ready for cooking and the flames have died down, oil the mushrooms well on both sides and season with salt and pepper a few minutes before you cook.
Move the coals to one side of the grill to allow you a cold and hot zone.
Grill the mushrooms for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden brown, then remove from the heat. It's important that the mushrooms are completely cooked for them to taste right, and as a general best practice habit.
If you don't know how to tell if they're completely cooked, or if you have really large pieces of mushroom, you might roast them in the oven for a bit at 250-300F while you make a side dish or something to allow them to heat through completely, since they'll taste better that way.
When the mushrooms are completely cooked, serve on pre-warmed dinner plates, with the salsa verde on the side.
Notes
Chef's tip
Mushrooms are lean and basically fat free, so it's very important to thoroughly oil them before cooking. That said, as moisture is released during cooking, this can make a charcoal grill flare up. The key is cooking the mushroom with indirect heat away from the coals. This was they'll get golden brown without burning.