{"id":23344,"date":"2014-09-29T12:04:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T16:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=23344"},"modified":"2014-09-29T17:53:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T21:53:43","slug":"on-your-table-capping-national-mushroom-month-with-a-flourish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=23344","title":{"rendered":"On Your Table: Capping National Mushroom Month with a flourish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longhorn Steakhouse celebrates local mushrooms<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Cathy Branciaroli,<\/strong>\u00a0Food Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"harvest-filet_Crp\"<\/a>

Longhorn Steakhouse\u2019s Chef\u2019s Showcase dish, Harvest Mushroom Filet, features local mushrooms from Basciani Foods.<\/p><\/div>\n

September is National Mushroom Month, and with Kennett Square\u2019s Mushroom Festival behind us, the celebration of mushrooms continues at Longhorn Steakhouse.\u00a0 The chain of casual dining restaurants began offering a special fall dish featuring local fungi September first.<\/p>\n

Their Chef\u2019s Showcase dish, Harvest Mushroom Filet ,topped with crimini, oyster and shitake mushrooms, is being offered for a limited time only.\u00a0 Greg Shepard, manager of the Longhorn in Exton, PA, told me that the dish was developed by Longhorn\u2019s corporate chef after experimenting with all types of mushrooms. The steak is paired with complementary side dishes including leek and potato gratin, and topped with a red wine reduction.\u00a0 It is delicious \u2013 I can testify.<\/p>\n

The entire Longhorn chain of 460-plus restaurants will be featuring this dish for 90 days, Also on the menu are grilled button mushroom caps stuffed with white and yellow cheddar cheese, herbs and roasted parmesan cheese crumbs and mushroom bisque made with chanterelle mushrooms and a dash of truffle oil. All the mushrooms come from Basciani Foods, headquartered in Avondale, PA.\u00a0 Greg told me that Longhorn is committed to supporting local businesses and that the restaurant in Exton is a test store for the chain where new dishes are tried out for customer feedback.<\/p>\n

When I visited the Basciani mushroom farm in Avondale, head grower Richard Basciani showed me how the family-fun business is taking advantage of the latest technologies in their growing barns scattered around the Avondale area.\u00a0 \u201cWe pasteurize, or cure, the compost used to grow the mushrooms indoors now,\u201d he said, \u201cand we use oxygenated water in their cultivation.\u00a0 Everything is done in sanitary conditions.\u201d\u00a0 The Basciani family has been operating a mushroom business since 1915 when the current generation\u2019s grandfather came to the area from a small village along the Adriatic Coast in the Abruzzo region of Italy.<\/p>\n

Richard debunked several myths about cooking with mushrooms.\u00a0 \u201cThese TV people tell you that you need to rub the skins with a paper towel, but that isn\u2019t necessary,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThey are watered every day with drinking quality water, so just run a little water over them and you are ready to go.\u00a0 Use the stems, not just the caps.\u00a0 The stems are 100% mushroom and shouldn\u2019t go to waste.\u00a0 People don\u2019t know that mushrooms are the only source of vitamin D in the produce aisle\u201d. \u00a0His tip for the world\u2019s best hamburgers was to add 30% finely chopped mushrooms to the ground meat mixture.\u00a0 \u201cIt makes the hamburger moister than with ground meat alone,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

So in tribute to local mushrooms, here is a little tutorial on popular varieties.<\/p>\n

\"Basket-mushrooms-cropped-\"<\/a>

Crimini, shitake and oyster mushrooms from Basciani Foods are the stars in Longhorn Steakhouse\u2019s Chef\u2019s Showcase dish.<\/p><\/div>\n

Button Mushrooms, the most popular type, can range in size from small (usually used for marinating) to large (used mostly for stuffing). They can be used raw for salads and vegetable trays. They can be marinated, stuffed or saut\u00e9ed.<\/p>\n

Crimini, a brown variety considered an Italian type, have a much more intense and \u2018earthy\u2019 flavor compared to the white variety. Their texture is firmer and they offer a deeper mushroom flavor.<\/p>\n

Portabella actually are an overgrown Crimini.\u00a0 \u00a0Because of the longer growing cycle, and their \u00a0characteristic opened cap, this mushroom has an exquisite meaty flavor and texture. Try cooking them whole on the grill or baked as a substitute for meat in a burger.<\/p>\n

Shiitake are known by a number of other common names, such as the Oak, Chinese or Black Forest mushroom. Originating from Japan, shiitake have a characteristic umbrella shaped cap, with an open veil and tan gills. Shiitake are best cooked, with a firm texture and wonderful aroma when used in any dish. Stems are very tough and should be removed.<\/p>\n

Oyster Mushrooms vary by species and can range in size from 1 to 3 inches. Their mild delicate flavor is most suited to cooking with chicken, veal, pork and seafood. Also try adding to soups and sauces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longhorn Steakhouse celebrates local mushrooms By Cathy Branciaroli,\u00a0Food Correspondent, The Times September is National Mushroom Month, and with Kennett Square\u2019s Mushroom Festival behind us, the celebration of mushrooms continues at Longhorn Steakhouse.\u00a0 The chain of casual dining restaurants began offering a special fall dish featuring local fungi September first. Their Chef\u2019s Showcase dish, Harvest Mushroom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245,7],"tags":[29,90,798,6176,6081],"class_list":["post-23344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-chester-county","tag-kennett-square","tag-local","tag-longhorn-steakhouse","tag-mushrooms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23354,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23344\/revisions\/23354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}