Chicken of the Woods Risotto

[AuntAnnie]

OK. I just finished dinner and wanted to write this down. I found a 6 lb.  Chicken of the Woods Sunday and had to experiment...

Name of Recipe: Chicken of the Woods Risotto
Number of People: 4
Ingredients:
100g of Chicken of the Woods Fungus – cut in chunks
200g of risotto rice
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of butter
Splash of walnut oil (or toasted sesame oil, or hazelnut oil)
125 ml pear cider (or apple cider or pear or apple juice; wine as a last resort)
2 pints of hot vegetable or chicken stock (425 ml)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh thyme
Lemon slices (optional)

Preparation:
Add garlic, butter, and oil to Thermomix. Turbo pulse 3 times to chop. Add the Chicken of the Woods. Sauté 4 minutes, 100°C, speed 2, reverse.
Add rice. Sauté 2 minutes, 100°C, speed 2, reverse.
Add pear cider (or equivalent). Stir 3 minutes, 100°C, reverse.
Add remaining stock or water and salt and pepper and cook, 15 minutes, 100°C, reverse, speed 1.5.
Stir in thyme and parmesan (1 minute, reverse speed 1). Turn into serving bowl and garnish with some lemon slices if desired.

Photos:

Tips/Hints:
If the Chicken of the Woods is not really young (like a marshmallow chicken), you should use only the outer edges and stew it slowly in some broth or salted water for about an hour (I use a crockpot). Pick out any pieces that seem tough.

I have no idea if any of you can get Chicken of  the Woods or not. Here is a link to some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus

If you can't get it, I guess Shitakes would be OK.

[brazen20au]

i was TOTALLY confused by what this was LOL

[Thermomixer]

Thanks - I have not seen them in Australia, but they certainly are available in the UK, so  definitely relevant there.  I found some fungi that I thought may have been Chicken of the Woods, but they turned out to be related, but not advised to eat them by the mycologist at the Botanic gardens.

We may have to substitute, but the basis is great to build on.

[judydawn]

What a variety of fungi.  If they aren't brown or pink in this household, we don't touch them.  I occasionally have some yellowy looking 'mushrooms' appear on our front lawn and my Polish neighbour asked if she could have them because, according to her, they were European mushrooms.  I said it was Ok but don't blame me if you die from eating them   She is still here so they must have been OK but there is no way I would eat them.

[AuntAnnie]

Your neighbor should really be careful. The number one cause of mushroom fatalities in the US is from Thai immigrants. Apparently there is an Amanita species in Thailand that is quite edible and sold in Thai markets. There is a mushroom in the US that is a "dead" ringer for it and the Thai people that immigrate here see it, pick it, and eat it. Problem is, that particular Amanita has the common name of "Death Angel". If you don't know the local mushrooms, best to check with someone who does.

Of course, if she eats it and lives, you might have found a new gourmet treat!

If they are boletes (the most popular one among the East European mushroomers I know), most that are not edible just taste bad. I have seen some pretty experienced mushroomers taste a small (very small) piece of an unknown bolete, but not swallow, to determine whether or not the specimen is one of the edible ones. So, if it is a bolete, your neighbor may know the tricks. Boletes are pored mushrooms, not gilled, and there are not so many pored mushrooms, so they are kind of easy to spot (I am simplifying, not encouraging massive taste testing of unknown mushrooms). We have a saying:
There are many old mushroom eaters and
there are many bold mushroom eaters but
there are NO old, bold mushroom eaters.

But Chicken of the Woods is delicious. Hen of the Woods is even better (it is also called Maitake).

[judydawn]

I never did ask her if she ate them, don't see that much of her but maybe she did the taste test first.  With me, if you can't buy it in the shop - don't eat it! I am not very adventurous person in these matters but it is interesting to read about other varieties and those game enough to eat them