Friday's Drawers - No Fooling Around!

With snow on the ground...in APRIL (!!!) doesn't it make you long for spring and summer fruits and veggies? If you want to get in on the June-November farm share from Enterprise Farms, today is the best day to do it. They are offering $25 bucks off your share if you sign up by April 1.  They have tons of pick ups around Boston & Western MA.  Check 'em out.  

Here is our share from this week:

Cilantro/Arugula/Dill: Dalponte Farm, Lake Placid, FLRed Valencia Citrus: Eagle's Nest Grove, Crescent City, FL
Red Grapefruit: Spooner's Grove, Vero Beach, FL
Green Beans: Homestead Organics, Homestead, FL
Greenleaf Lettuce: Lady Moon Farms, Punta Gorda, FL
Dino Kale: Lady Moon Farms, Punta Gorda, FL
Maitake Mushrooms: Phillip's Gourmet, Kennett Square, PA

Grape Tomatoes: Lady Moon Farms, Punta Gorda, FL
Collard greens

I am completely fascinated with the maitake mushrooms. I've never seen these kind of mushrooms before. They kind of looked like seaweed or something you would find in the ocean. But with a really earthy smell and texture. 

And that makes sense because when Maitake mushrooms, according to Kimiko Barber, are called “dancing mushrooms”  because when they move in a gentle breeze, they resemble coral dancing in the current. In centuries past, they were known as "phantom mushrooms" due to their extreme rarity and value.

Interestingly, WebMd even discussed how theses mushrooms are used to treat cancer and relieve some of the side affects of chemotherapy.

I am sure like many (real) foods, there are benefits.  But for me, right now...I just want to know how to prepare the suckers.

Nothing came up in my cook books at home, so I checked out the interwebs and found a couple of options.

This one looked promising.  I have been on a ginger, soy, citrus kick (Oh yeah, I have a broccoli dish to post!)

From edenfoods.com

Ingredients
1 cup maitake mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon EVOO
20 spears asparagus, 1 bunch, end trimmed, sliced into 2 inch lengths
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup water, including reserved maitake soaking water
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 cup organic sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger root, finely grated, squeeze out juice, discard pulp

Directions
Place maitake in a bowl and soak for 20 minutes in warm water to cover. Remove, drain and reserve water to use as part of the cooking liquid. Heat up a skillet, sauté the garlic and maitake for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the shoyu and water. Cover and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the asparagus, carrots and corn. Cover and simmer another 5 minutes. Remove cover and pour ginger juice over the asparagus. Sauté another 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve.

Nutritional InfoPer serving: 94 Calories, 3g Fat (25% calories from fat), 4g Protein, 14g Carbohydrate, 7g Fiber, 0mg Cholesterol, 210mg Sodium

But I think I am going to adapt this one from a blog I stumbled across:

Maitake and Beech Mushrooms with Simmered Tofu on Sesame Rice

I'll give it a try and post how it goes.