Lion's Mane Mushroom Steaks over Polenta with Savory Pan Sauce

A bit involved but rewarding and delicious! Dehydrating, marinating and pressing Lion's mane Mushrooms creates a lovely sort of 'steak' like experience that I've been excited to try.

I’ve been seeing Lion’s Mane being used as a meat substitute all over the internet for the past year. I think I first saw it on Sam Jones’s No Meat Disco and the idea really stood out to me.

Backing up a bit, mushrooms can be a bit of a divisive ingredient. Many people don’t love their texture and some also don’t love their taste. How we prepare mushrooms though, makes a huge difference with both of these factors. Taking the time to properly dehydrate mushrooms in a skillet until they are no longer bubbling out moisture helps both reduce that sometimes murky mushroom flavor and also dramatically changes their texture. Now, this may not be enough to sway every mushroom hater out there, but it’s a good place to start.

Lion’s mane mushrooms are particularly interesting in that they are thicker mushrooms, have a very meaty texture throughout and actually have an almost fishy quality to their flavor when cooked. They also have a vast array of potent bioactive compounds that are known to have many positive health effects such as helping cognitive function.

For this recipe we are preparing our mushrooms in between 2 skillets to both dehydrate them, brown them and compress them to a more ‘steak’ like form. Then, once all 3 of these goals have been achieved, we’re going to move them into a bowl along with a marinade to soak in and absorb. I only let this sit for an hour but you can also let it marinade overnight. Then, we’re adding it back to our pan to caramelize and create a nice and crusty surface.

I decided to plate this over polenta and top with a simple pan sauce made from the leftover marinade. You can garnish with an herb like sesame leaf, shiso or even parsley if you like but it was plenty flavorful without. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this. It definitely did not taste anything like steak but it did taste delicious! The textures were great, the sauce was savory and elevated the mushrooms nicely, and the polenta was the perfect creamy situation to bring it all together into a nice bite.

I hope that you enjoy.

Cheers,

Joey

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Full Recipe

Cook Time: 70 minutes

Serves: 2 people

Mods: To make this vegan sub out the butter for a vegan butter or just use olive oil.

Notes: After step 4, you can leave the mushrooms to marinade over night or up to several days ahead of when you plan on cooking them!

Mushroom Steak Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 large Lion’s Mane mushrooms

• ¼ cup Kimchi Sauce Mixture (I’m using @mamaoskimchi but you can also make your own by combining gochujang, micro grated ginger and garlic to taste)

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp chinkiang vinegar (or another black vinegar)

• Salt

• 2 tbsp avocado oil

Polenta Ingredients:

• 5 cups water

• 1 cup polenta or grits 

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

• salt to taste

Pan Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp avocado oil

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

• marinade from mushrooms

• 1/4 cup cornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch with about 3 tbsp of water)

Steps:

1 • Heat 1 tbsp of avocado oil in a large skillet over med/high heat and add your lion’s mane, pressing down firmly for contact. Salt it and weigh it down by adding a second, smaller pan on top of it. Cast iron and Carbon steel work great for this but stainless will also work great!

2 • Cook for about 10 minutes until well browned on the bottom side, pushing down firmly on the top pan to help flatten out the mushroom(s).

3 • Once well browned, flip salt and repeat the process with the other side. You’ll know the mushrooms are done when most of the moisture is gone from the pan, even when pressing down.

4 • In a medium bowl whisk together kimchi sauce mixture, soy sauce & chinkiang vinegar. Add your mushroom(s) to the mixture, coating them well and pressing them into the mixture for absorption. Let this marinade while move onto the next steps. Note: At this point you can leave the mushrooms to marinade over night if you want to give the mushrooms and sauce mixture some extra time to mingle.

5 • To make the polenta, add water to a 3qt saucepan over high heat. Whisk in your polenta gradually as you bring the mixture up to a boil. Bring to a boil stirring frequently until thick enough that it starts to spit.

6 • Lower heat to prevent spitting and continue to cook for about 50 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.

7 • Stir in butter and salt to taste. Stir vigorously to work out any lumps and add a touch of water to adjust the consistency as needed. Cover and set aside over a burner on low heat.

8 • To finish your mushrooms, heat 1 tbsp of avocado oil in a skillet over med/high. Add your marinated mushroom(s) and weigh it down with another skillet like before. Cook for several minutes until nice and browned, flip and repeat with the other side. Once done, set aside and make your pan sauce.

9 • To make your pan sauce, heat avocado oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. Stir in garlic for about 1 minute until fragrant and soft and add butter and the marinade remains from the mushrooms. Stir until butter is fully melted and well combined, lowering the heat if necessary to avoid burning. Gradually stir in your cornstarch slurry until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in a bit of water to loosen it up if needed.

10 • Plate the mushrooms over a bed of polenta and top with a generous amount of your pan sauce. Garnish with a fresh herb like minced parsley, shiso or sesame leaf if you like.