Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Wild Fennel Flower
I was babysitting the children of friends the other night. The parents were running late, and the kids were hungry, so I started poking around their fridge looking for something for dinner. My friends have a well-stocked kitchen, a love of everything Italian, and only buy organic produce, but the cupboard was pretty bare. What could I make that would be kid-friendly but still good, real food?
I found a bag of big, fresh, farmers market mushrooms. Beautiful purple stripe garlic. Olive oil, butter,
Parmigiano-Reggiano, big, baconey pine nuts, and dried spaghetti. So, pasta with toasted pine nuts, butter, and cheese, and mushrooms, sauteed in garlic and olive oil, on the side. I looked around for some dried oregano for the mushrooms, but all I could find was a little plastic bottle filled with a strange green herb, labeled fiori di finocchio selvatico.
from Tuscany. I opened the bottle and inhaled.
REVELATION. It was everything that is wonderful about a good Italian sausage with fennel seed, but MORE. More intense, more sweet, more rich, more savory. Almost a curry-like flavor. But more delicate and mysterious. A secret ingredient. I sprinkled a small pinch over the slowly sizzling mushrooms. Truly amazing. And the kids ate it. All. I went out today looking for this miraculous new (to me) herb and found it at
in Chelsea Market in Manhattan. $16 for a container the size of a small prescription pill bottle! I bought it, but suffering from sticker shock, I also bought a bottle of ground fennel seed for $2 to compare. In a taste test, the ground fennel was bitter, much softer, almost mud-flavored in comparison to the brightness of the fiori.
Try the fiori di finocchio selvatico in this mushroom recipe. Sprinkle it on homemade pizza or thick pork chops or buttered pasta with grated Parmesan cheese or fresh grilled sardines. A little goes a long way, so hopefully my expensive jar will last a good while.
As a side dish or pasta topping for two people, you will need:
- 1 pound large Crimini or white button mushrooms, cleaned, ends of stems trimmed, and cut into half inch slices
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 3 regular garlic cloves, finely chopped, but not pressed or minced. (You want crispy bits of sweet, slowly fried garlic. If it's chopped too fine, it might clump or burn as the mushrooms slowly saute.)
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Fiori di Finocchio
Directions:
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed, non-stick saute pan for several minutes over medium low heat. (Cast iron is great if you have it.) Add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic and saute for about a minute, without browning, to cook out the raw garlic flavor. (If you eliminate this step, the mushrooms will absorb the raw garlic juice and the garlic flavor will be too strong.) Add the sliced mushrooms. Don't crowd. If your pan is too small, cook them in batches, adding more olive oil as necessary. The mushrooms need a fair bit of oil and space to brown up nicely.
Sprinkle lightly with salt to help draw out the moisture, allowing the mushrooms to caramelize and keeping the garlic from burning. They will shrink as they cook, so be careful not to over salt. Add pepper to taste, and then sprinkle a pinch of fiori di finocchio over the mushrooms. Saute until soft and golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.