Maitake mushroom and soba noodles

Lately I'm taking advantage of a local summer market in the park, with a mushroom vendor. I am loading up on, rare for me to find, fungi. In some parts of the world these things may be more common but not in this city. These mushrooms I feature today, are called maitake They say that this means dancing mushroom in Japanese. Apparently the name came from the reaction of folks that were lucky enough to find them. It made them dance with joy. It's what I feel like doing when I see them at the market. They also have the nickname hen of the woods. I'm not sure why. Perhaps they look like a hen's feathers.

I did get them last year and possibly made pizza or pasta. This time I decided to honor it's Asian title and accompany with soba noodles.

When you cut them they feel a little dense but the little feathers fall off.

Next to the mushroom vendor there was the garlic vendor, specializing in black garlic. I have only had black garlic aioli, but never saw the garlic itself. It's expensive to buy but if you have a slow cooker and patience you can make it. I have neither. This is aged garlic which takes at least 3 weeks or more to be ready. It apparently has medicinal properties. I like it for it's sweet mild and unique garlicky taste. For people who don't like strong garlic, it's a perfect substitute. I like all garlic.

I decided to add this to the mushroom noodles. Since the garlic is aged it seemed to go well with this dish. I did however add additional fresh garlic.

Maitake and soba noodles
2 cups chopped maitake mushrooms
1 handful soba
2 shallots
3 cloves regular garlic
4 cloves black garlic
2 fresh chilies
2 tablespoons miso paste
3 2 tablespoons rice wine
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons agave
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
1 tablespoon ground dried shitake powder
1 tablespoon truffle infused oil (optional)

Saute shallot, peppers, and regular garlic in a hot oiled pan, then add liquids.

After adding the liquid I removed it from the pan and set aside for the noodles.

The soba noodles had been cooked for just a little while. Soba noodles have a different texture than regular pasta. It cooks fast so I just softened them and then added to a pan with the mixture that I had blended. It was simmered in this sauce while I cooked the mushrooms.

For the mushrooms I simply sauteed them in a little hot oil, and a little minced garlic, in a pan without liquid. I added just a dash of soy sauce and let them brown and roast in the pan. They become meaty but not too chewy.

The noodles had absorbed the sauce and was nicely flavoured. I added the mushrooms on the top with toasted sesame seeds.

This was kind of an eclectic Asian dish. I tend to use whatever I have and feel like adding at the time. It's a reflection of myself having no real food culture background. I like almost everything.

I used half the amount of the maitake mushrooms and took the rest to share with my manager at work. She gasped when she saw it. These are not seen in regular stores here. I told her to do what she wanted with them so she whipped up a spicy saute with coconut milk. It was really good. She told me it was her new all time favourite mushroom.

For me it's really up there in the favourites. There's just something about it. Hopefully I can get my hands on it once more this year.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

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