My wife found a glorious Chicken of the Woods mushroom on a hike the other day, and she brought some home for us! It had been so dry out this year where we live, that none of us expected any mushrooms this year…in fact, we struck out with Chanterelles. So, when she brought the chicken home and showed me her haul, I was caught off guard! Having not been pre-pondering what to do with chicken mushrooms this year, I didn’t have any ideas in the hopper (rookie mistake on my part)…so I asked my kid, and he suggested Schnitzel!
From there, we started thinking about what type of sauce would go well with the fried mushrooms, and we came up with a creamy roasted red pepper sauce! We fired up the grill and Roasted a few Peppers. Once they cooled, we peeled them and pureed them with some homemade Cashew Milk to add creaminess to our sauce. Then, we reheated that with a little salt and black pepper to pair with our Schnitzel!
The sauce turned out well enough that we plan to make it again (with slightly different spices and flavour profiles) to make a Red Pepper Curry and some Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce in the future!
*This website can’t be used to identify wild mushrooms or ingredients. Do your own independent research, and consume wild mushrooms or ingredients at your own risk.
Time: 25 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms
- All Purpose Flour
- Egg
- Unseasoned Bread Crumbs
- For your Optional Roasted Red Pepper Sauce:
- Roasted Red Pepper (jarred, or Roast Your Own)
- 1/2 Cup Cashew Milk (or a handful of raw cashews and a little less than a half cup of water)
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Method:
- If using fresh red peppers, roast them on the grill until they start to char and blister on all sides. Then, remove and let cool before peeling.
- If making your own cashew milk, soak some cashews in warm water before you start to cook.
- Rinse your mushrooms and remove any debris.
- Arrange three bowls next to your cutting board.
- Scoop some all purpose flour in the first
- Beat an egg or two in the second
- Add some unseasoned bread crumbs to the third.
- Working one mushroom shelf at a time, coat in flour, egg, and then bread crumbs, and set aside.
- When all of your mushrooms are breaded, heat some oil (we used vegetable oil) in a large pan with tall sides. We often use cast iron for this, but our big pan was in use to cook the potatoes, so we used steel…and it worked surprisingly well!
- When your oil is hot, carefully place your mushrooms in, and allow to fry on the bottom for 3-4 minutes.
- When they are golden brown and crispy, flip, and cook the other side.
- While your mushrooms cook, puree your red pepper and cashew milk, and pour into a saucepan. Add some black pepper and salt, and heat while stirring.
- When your mushrooms are fully cooked, remove them from the oil, and place them on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil.
- Plate, top with your sauce (we also put a smear underneath everything), devour, and enjoy!
