Stuff to eat. Mostly around St. Louis.
Grilled Mushrooms with Sesame
Most of my home cooking inspiration comes from meals I’ve had out at restaurants. That’s my favorite part of eating food made by talented chefs—that wow factor they manage to impart on simple ingredients.
Nate Hereford, chef of the now closed Niche restaurant, turned me on to Hen-of-the-woods (also known as maitake) mushrooms a few years back. Up until that point, I was barely ever eating mushrooms. Every recipe seemed to taste the same. He proved me wrong. So wrong. That mushroom, cooked in a chorizo-spiced butter, is still the greatest I’ve had.
It was a meal at Publico this fall that inspired the recipe below. Chef Brad Bardon grilled maitakes directly over the coals of the restaurant’s hearth, leaving the edges of the mushroom crispy and charred, but the inside tender. Bardon paired it with a spicy red chimichurri and creamy tortilla grits. I loved it, but wanted to make a less labor intensive version at home, because I’m lazy.
My version gets tahini instead of grits and a spicy red harissa instead of chimichurri. It’s simple as can be, but a welcome change to your standard sauteed mushroom dish.
The measurements aren’t precise on this—do what fits your tastes best. You can find Hen-of-the-woods/maitake mushrooms at most groceries these day. I typically buy mine at Whole Foods or one of the Asian groceries.
Grilled Mushrooms
harissa, tahini, sesame seeds
SERVES 4 OR 5 AS A SIDE
METHOD
If you’re using a charcoal grill, which I prefer, get your fire started. I prefer all the coals to be on one half of the grill, so that side is extremely hot. If you’re using a gas grill, pre-heat it on high.
Pull or slice the mushroom into smaller portions, keeping the base intact. You are going to be grilling these, so you want to have something large enough that it won’t fall through the grate or burn completely. If you have a full maitake in front of you, compare to my photos.
Place the maitake wedges on a baking sheet and pour olive oil all over them, then flip them and do it again. You’re going to want to use more olive oil than you think is necessary to keep them moist; they soak it up like a sponge. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
Once the grill is hot, put the mushrooms down. They only need to cook for 3-4 minutes per side. Expect flare ups because of the oil. If any threaten to char too much, move them to a less hot part of the grill.
Remove from the grill. Spoon tahini onto the plate, then put the mushrooms over. Dollop harissa on top. Drizzle with just a tiny bit of sesame oil, then finish with sesame seeds.
You Deserve a Better Steak.
Steak. Let’s talk about it.
You brag about how you cook a mean steak at home, but deep inside, you know you don’t. You overcook it. You undercook it. The seasoning is never quite right. It’s not seared—it’s charred. You just pretend that’s the way you like it because your pride gets in the way.
There are two issues at hand: first, you’re just not a very good cook. Secondly, you don’t have a grill that gets as hot as a restaurant’s.
Leave it to Kenji Lopez-Alt, the mastermind behind Serious Eats, to show the way. Reverse searing meat—letting it cook at a low temperature until desired doneness then searing in a ripping pan—is the way to go. But even then, you’re not getting flavor of cooking over coals and fire. And you’re getting your house all smoky.
Leave it to Kenji Lopez-Alt, the mastermind behind Serious Eats, to show the way AGAIN. Sous vide ribeye (if you don’t have an Anova, you don’t belong here)—123F for 1 hour—grilled directly over the grill’s chimney starter. It’s like cooking on a jet engine.
It’s simple: about midway through the sous vide process, go light your chimney starter in your grill (see the 17 min mark of the video). I found that using letters from my ex worked as a great fire starter, so if you have any of those left in your closet, use them. Place a smaller grill grate over the starter so it can get extremely hot.
Pull the steaks out of the water bath and season with salt and pepper on both sides. You’re probably going to only be able to cook one steak on the chimney at a time, but that’s okay, because sous vide steaks don’t really need to rest—plus, each steak takes just about 2 minutes to grill TOTAL (if you’re going for a perfect medium-rare, that is).
Like Kenji, I kept the steak moving every 15 seconds or so, including rotating it onto the edges. When each steak finishes, you can pull it off the grill and onto a baking sheet, lightly tented with foil.
As you can see below, it worked perfectly—especially when paired with my grilled maitake mushrooms. Or a nice, hefty pat of Bolyard’s steak or bacon butter.
I’m never going back to cooking it the old fashioned way. Thank you, Kenji.
