I had a total blast yesterday with friends and fellow food-lovers The Bells as we headed up the dark interstate late last night to see Serenbe Playhouse’s “The Sleepy Hollow Experience.” We got to Serenbe a little early and decided to sample some drinks and desserts at The Hil, which has been featured in Southern Living, Bon Appetit, and Food & Wine among many other publications. While enjoying a lovely chat with the chef-owner’s delightful mother in the bar, we tasted the infamous bourbon pecan tart (I enjoyed it with an amaretto coffee, myself) that had an almost croissant-like crust.
heavenly
The play was delightful: eerie without being spooky and humorous without being campy, and good for all ages. The only downside: it was about 30 degrees and the entire experience was outdoors. This morning I awoke , after getting home at about 2am, to a raging headcold that shattered any plans of productivity for the rest of the day. This includes, of course, the regularly scheduled weekend grocery store run. Hungry and without much in the way of leftovers in the fridge, I scavenged what I could find for a warm, soothing pasta dish.
the fruits of my ransacking!
“Ok, cool, this looks normal. I can totally do this! Pasta, lemon, pecans, goat cheese, fresh basil, and WHAT THE HOLY HELL IS THAT ON THE END?”
I know. Trust me, I know. This, my friends, is a Lion’s Mane mushroom, supposedly one of the healthiest mushrooms you can possibly consume. I picked it up along with some baby shiitakes at the Mulberry Street Market this week from the delightful Jonathan of Sparta Imperial Mushrooms (actually, I inquired about it purely out of interest and he very generously threw one in with my shiitakes as a sample; what a guy!). Fresh mushrooms are in their ideal state of being when sauteed very briefly in only a tiny touch of butter. The mushroom itself has an amazing flavor that comes out when cooked and you don’t need to ruin it by making it mushy or throwing it in with a bunch of other stuff.
I cooked my pappardelle quickly (4 minutes tops, guys, this stuff is fragile) and tossed it with the goat cheese, a ladle-full of pasta water to thin it into a sauce, lemon zest, and the juice from half the lemon. I chopped and toasted the pecans, and also roughly diced and cooked the mushroom over high heat in a cast-iron skillet with a little bit of butter. The mushroom bits got crunchy and browned, and almost reminded me of lump crab meat in the end. I topped the pasta with these and some fresh shredded basil. Comfort food to the extreme, and I never even had to take my fleece socks off!
sigh…
Cooking Up Happy 