Pheasant back mushrooms stewed with garlic, white wine and herbs. Delicious spooned over fish on a bed of polenta or tossed with a bowl pasta. Serves 2-4
8oztender edges of dryad saddle mushroomssliced as thin as possible on a mandoline
¼cupdry white wine
¼cupvegetable broth
¼teaspoonsaltplus more to taste
Tiny pinch of red pepper flakes
Dash of fresh lemonto taste
Roughly 10 fresh mint leaves or other fresh herbsbasil, oregano, wild oregano, or ramp leaves are a good substitute here. Use what you have available.
Instructions
In a 10 inch saute pan or small saucepan, sweat the garlic and butter on medium-low for 2-3 minutes without allowing the garlic to color.
Add the sliced mushrooms, pinch of chili, wine and stock, cover and bring to a simmer until the mushrooms are tender and have given up their juice.
Remove the lid and simmer the pan for 5-10 minutes to concentrate the pan juices.
Taste the pan juices-they’re delicious, and that makes this recipe a good starting point for a bowl of pasta with some fresh spring greens tossed in at the end as well as just a garnish for a plate.
The mushrooms should be gently swimming in a rich liquor, if you don’t want to drizzle their juices over something on a plate, you can concentrate this into a light sauce by simmering it for a bit longer.
Taste and adjust the seasoning for salt just before serving, adding the lemon and mint or other herbs right at the end.
Notes
General Cooking
This is a juicy preparation of dryad saddles, if you like, you can tighten it by reducing the juices to give it the feel of a bowl of simply cooked mushrooms.
Herbs
Feel free to use different herbs if you like. A little chopped thyme, sliced basil, or tarragon are all good here.
Mushrooms
Besides pheasant backs, you can also use chicken of the woods a and hen of the woods like this.