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Hail to the Mushroom King

My mushroom repertoire has been pretty limited. Mostly ordinary button mushrooms and, occasionally, dried shiitakes for Asian dishes.

It would have stayed that way, if I hadn’t met up with king trumpet—not a jazz musician but a meaty cultivated wild mushroom from Japan.

Tall and thick, with a small cap, king trumpet does what buttons don’t. It holds its shape when cooked. Buttons turn dark, thin and flabby and send out a lot of liquid. This is not a complaint. I love their flavor. But I like the way king trumpets retain their texture. And they don’t discolor a sauce because they are pale and don’t weep.

King trumpets are here now, along with three comrades—white and brown beech,which look like clusters of round buttons, and meaty, brown, flat-topped maitake.By next year, they’ll be around in massive abundance.

Hokto Kinoko Corporation, Japan’s largest mushroom  producer, is joining with specialty mushroom producer Golden Gourmet Mushrooms to build a plant in northern San Diego County. Scheduled to be completed by the end of Decmeber, this facility will yield an amazing six million pounds annually of the four mushrooms.

Perhaps this new source will help Americans catch up with the Japanese, who consume 26 pounds of mushrooms per person a year. We are way back in that race with only four pounds annual consumption.

A tasting at One Sunset on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles introduced such dishes as new style sushi, a roll of tuna, beech mushrooms and shiso wrapped in thin cut beef, and a cute parchment box that contained what looked like paella without the rice—shrimp, mussels, Spanish chorizo and king trumpets.

These are chef dishes, more complicated than most people could, or would, make. A simple mushroom sauce is more my speed. Specifically, chicken breasts with a creamy, wine-flavored sauce that incorporates sliced king trumpets.

The recipe isn’t mine—I borrowed it from a friend, Barbara Swain, whose cookbook, “Intimate Dining,” is one of my staples. In that book, she suggests mushrooms as an alternative to grapes for chicken Veronique.

Good idea. And I lavishly upped the amount of king trumpets, like showering attention on a new friend. No problem with putting in so many. The flavor is delicate. And the dish is not only delicious but super easy to make.

CHICKEN WITH KING TRUMPET SAUCE
Based on a recipe in “Intimate Dining: Memorable Meals for Two” by Barbara Swain (Fisher Books)

2 half chicken breasts, skinned and boned
½ to 1 cup sliced king trumpet mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter, clarified preferred
2 tablespoons dry white wine, dry vermouth or dry sherry
1/4 to ½ teaspoon dried leaf tarragon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ to ½ cup whipping cream

Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels. Slice the mushrooms crosswise and set aside.

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the butter and swirl to melt and coat evenly. Add the mushrooms and sauté until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.

Place the chicken breasts in the pan and sauté until lightly browned on each side, turning once, about 8 minutes.

Add the wine, tarragon and salt. Cover and simmer slowly 5 minutes. To test doneness, press a finger into the thickest part of the chicken breast. The meat should spring back. Do not overcook.

Place the chicken breasts on a plate and keep warm by covering with the skillet lid.

Quickly boil the pan juices until syrupy. Add the cream and boil until lightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in any juices that have drained from the chicken. Arrange on 2 plates and spoon the sauce over.

Makes 2 servings.

The Freshest Bread in Town

If you’re craving really fresh bread, go to Betsy’s Bakery on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles.

There, pan de sal  comes out of  the oven every 20 minutes.

These big, soft Filipino rolls are marvelous, as only just-baked bread can be. They’re wonderful for breakfast, with dinner or for sandwiches.

I remember tasty adobo (pork) sandwiches in the Philippines, the light, sweet bread (yes—it’s sweet, not salty, although pan de sal means salt bread), was as much of a treat as the filling.

Betsy’s stacks pre-packaged pan de sal on the shelves. But why not get a paper sack full of steaming rolls just out of the oven? With the 20 minute schedule, you won’t have long to wait.   

Fresh baked pan de sal is $2 for 10 rolls at Betsy’s bakery, 1001 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA  90029. Tel: (323) 665-7483. Open daily from 8 a.m to 7 p.m.

Ice Cream Fit for a Maharajah

Imagine ice cream that evokes the very soul of India. This rare delicacy is rajbhog ice cream, which you can taste at Saffron Spot in Artesia’s Little India. (It's the yellow ice cream on the right at the back of the photo.)

Rajbhog means royal food, and this ice cream is royal indeed, with such luxurious components as saffron, cardamom, pistachios, almonds and cashews. It’s so elegant, you can fantasize spooning it up from a gem-encrusted golden bowl in a maharajah’s palace.

Smita Salgaonkar of  Neemo’s Exotic Ice Creams and owner of Saffron Spot, said she based the flavor on an Indian mithai (sweet) typical of Gujarat and Bengal.

That style of rajbhog is exported canned from India. Rani brand, which I found at a shop in Los Angeles, consists of small milky dumplings in fragrant syrup, flavored with saffron and rose water. It makes a lovely dessert, but Neemo’s rajbhog ice cream is pure magic.

Neemo's rajbhog ice cream is $2.85 a scoop or $8.50 a quart at Saffron Spot ice cream parlor and snack shop, 18744 Pioneer Blvd., Artesia, CA  90701 Tel: (562) 809-6226.

Surati Farsan's Fig Sweets

My fig tree is sprouting its first touch of green, but I’ve been eating figs all year—dried fig sweets from Surati Farsan Mart in Artesia’s Little India.

This shop specializes in Gujarati sweets and snacks. Among them is kaju anjir barfi, a delicious cashew and fig confection that would be at home in a health foods store. It satisfies that compelling urge for candy with natural goodness instead of a sugar high.

The shop has other fig sweets too, among them sugar-free dry fruit barfi made with pistachios and raisins as well as cashews and figs.

Apart from these, the counter is loaded with intensely sugary traditional Indian sweets, some of them in fanciful shapes and colors; salty snacks, and wonderful cardamom-flavored plain cookies.

Surati Farsan Mart serves meals and drinks too. Daily specials, all vegetarian, include vegetable curries, chole puri (spiced garbanzo beans with a puffy whole wheat bread), samosas, pav vada (potato patties and garlic chutney in a bun), vegetable sandwiches with cilantro chutney and south Indian snacks such as idlis and dosas.

The shop provides tables for customers who want to eat there. It’s usually crowded on weekends, because that is prime shopping time for the Indian community. I usually drop in loaded with sacks of groceries and retaining just enough carrying power for a box of fig sweets, and perhaps some of those cardamom cookies too.

Kaju Anjir Barfi (cashew and fig sweet) is $7 a pound; sugar-free dry fruit barfi is $9 a pound at Surati Farsan Mart, 11814  E. 186th  Street, Artesia, CA 90701. Tel: (562) 860- 2310.  Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

A San Diego branch is located at 9494 Black Mountain Road, San Diego CA 92126. Tel: (858) 549-7280.

Pan Dulce in the Desert

I can’t pass up pan dulce (Mexican sweet rolls), and I’m always looking for new places to buy them.  Each panaderia (bakery) adds its own touch so that while the breads may seem similar, they are also different.

Therefore, when I heard that a market in Desert Hot Springs sold pan dulce, I stopped by. The name, Carniceria Rancho Grande, indicates a meat market (carne means meat), but inside I found a well-stocked Mexican grocery, hot food outlet, tortilleria and bakery.

My mouth watered as I browsed the tempting dishes prepared for take-out, including carnitas, carne asada, costillas (ribs) in green or red chile chile sauces, bistek (steak) con papas (potatoes), rice, beans and much more.

Sadly, I had to pass these up, because they wouldn’t have survived the long drive home. But I did pick up tortillas so freshly made they were still steaming hot, a bag of  chips--the real kind, made by frying cut-up tortillas--and some of the best dried California chiles that I have come across, slightly spicy and more flavorful than usual. Perhaps they were grown in the area because they were packed in bulk.

And, of course, there was pan dulce, stacked according to type in a large display case in the center of the store. I chose fat, yellow, cake-like buns studded with raisins, fluffy conchas, a fancy cuerno (horn)  and shapes that I had not seen before. A list posted by the display specified the ingredients in each. 

Not all were available that day, which was disappointing--I would have liked the chocolate bread that was listed--but also fortunate. My stuffed freezer couldn’t have held any more than the sackful that I bought.

Mexican sweet rolls (pan dulce) are three for $1.19 (larger and stuffed varieties are more) at Carniceria Rancho Grande Supermarket, 13313 Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs, CA. 92241. Tel: (760) 251-7096 .

Wien's Pretty Party Cakes

These Indonesian puppet figures are intent on getting something they can’t find at home—elegant cakes from Wien, a European style Korean bakery on Olympic Boulevard in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

On the left is “rich cheese cake,” which is more delicately flavored and less dense than American cheese cake, despite its name.  On the right is strawberry short cake, a light-as-air white cake crowned with berries.

Wien’s stylish small cakes make pretty party desserts. The rich cheese cake is $4. Strawberry short cake is $3.75.

Pick up an assortment of these and other flavors at Wien Konditorei und Café, 3035 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90006. Tel: (213) 427-0404.

A Great Dish: Vegetarian Chili

Here’s just what you want on a cold winter’s day—a heartwarming bowl of delicious vegetarian chili.

New on the menu at Joan’s on Third in Los Angeles, it’s made with three types of dried beans (kidney, navy and black), eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes and topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream. 

Eat the chili at Joan’s for $4.50 a cup or $7 bowl or take some home for $7 a pint or $12.50 a quart.

Joan’s on Third is located at 8350 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90045. Tel: (323) 655-2285.

A Great Taste

Carmela Ice Cream’s cardamom ice cream is a dreamy, creamy treat infused with real cardamom seeds. It’s the perfect companion to pumpkin pie and other holiday desserts. An individual cup is $3. A pint is $9.

You’ll find this and other Carmela flavors at the Larchmont Village Farmers Market Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Larchmont Blvd. between 1st Street and Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. They’re also at the downtown Los Angeles City Hall Farmers Market Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. That market is on City Hall’s south lawn, facing 1st Street, between Main and Spring Streets.

Start the Day with Chestnuts

What about chestnuts for breakfast? That’s not a bad idea if the nuts are shelled, diced, candied and added to a loaf of  bread.

You’ll find chestnut bread in almost every Korean bakery in Los Angeles, because it is so popular in that community. The loaf pictured here came from Manmi bakery on Western Avenue in Koreatown.

Manmi’s loaf is studded with golden, sweetened chestnut cubes and, for color, a scattering of green dried peas.  Knobby in appearance, but light and slightly sweet, it’s wonderful with morning coffee.   

Chestnut bread is $3.95 a loaf at Manmi Bakery, 869 S. Western Ave., No.  4,  Los Angeles, CA 90005. Tel: (213) 389-8844.

Cookies from Canter's

I can’t imagine anything more enticing than the almond macaroon cookies at Canter’s on Fairfax. The base is a fluted round sugar cookie onto which is swirled an almond macaroon mixture, A circle of  luscious apricot or raspberry filling goes in the center. 

I spotted these in the window as I walked by one day, bought a few, and now I’m a regular customer.

Almond macaroon cookies are $1.75 each at the bakery counter of Canter’s restaurant  and deli, 419 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA. 90036. Tel: (323) 651-2030.