Lion's Mane for Dinner!
Updated: Mar 31, 2021
We just moved to the Midwest from the West Coast a few months ago and we've been super excited to experience a Farmer's Market out here. This weekend we were given the opportunity. We happened to drive by a sign a few weeks ago that boasted a Spring Farmer's Market for the last weekend in March! Yay!!! It was small, but had some really great vendors, one of which we found Lion's Mane Mushrooms, called Down The Road Farms, you can find them on Facebook here. They were lovely people and seem to love mushrooms as much as I do. I am obsessed with mushrooms as I am quite certain that they have saved my life! But that's a story for another time.
Of course we had to try them! Except that I didn't bring cash and they could only take cash or a few apps that I don't have. We walked back to the car feeling a bit deflated, really wanted to try them. I checked my wallet one more time and low and behold there is $10!!! The perfect amount to purchase a lb. of Lion's Mane. Double Yay!
Amber shared with us that when fried, they taste like crab meat. Sounds like a winner to me.
Do you know the potential benefits of Lion's Mane Mushrooms? In a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry lists the benefits of lion’s mane mushroom as “antibiotic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, anti-fatigue, antihypertensive, antihyperlipodemic [prevents or counteracts accumulation of lipids in the blood] , anti-senescence [anti-aging], cardioprotective, hepatoprotective [protects the liver], nephroprotective [protects kidney functions], and neuroprotective, and improves anxiety, cognitive function, and depression."
You can also forage for these mushrooms in the wild and because all of their "look-alike" mushrooms are also edible, you don't have to worry that you've found a poisonous one. They are from the "tooth" family of fungi.
You can also get it in powdered form from drying your foraged fungi, from supplements such as places like Host Defense in their Lion's Mane as well as in the My Community formulas, and in coffee/drink form from Four Sigmatic, I am sure there are others but I've personally tried these.
Hannah is our foodie, so she was tasked with finding the "right" recipe for Lion's Mane Mushroom Crab Cakes. And boy did she ever! They were delicious, there was literally nothing left after we finished.
Here's the recipe from Tyrant Farms:
They have a lot more information about how to grow them and more detailed information about cooking them if you are interested, click their name for more info.
Lion's mane mushroom crab cakes (meat-free)
A meatless "crab cake" recipe made with Lion's mane mushrooms, which have a nearly identical taste and texture to crab or lobster meat. You won't believe you're not eating seafood!
Course Appetizer, Dinner Keyword Hericium erinaceus, lion's mane mushrooms
Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 4
Ingredients
1 pound finely chopped or shredded lions mane our lion's mane was 1.2 pounds but was very wet from rain
1 cup large yellow or white onion, finely diced
6 cloves diced garlic
1/4 cup diced red sweet peppers
3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs or panko crumbs make your own by baking in oven on 200F for 20 minutes, then blending
2 duck eggs or large chicken eggs, beaten
3 Tbsp diced parsley
3/4 Tbsp sea salt or to taste
2 Tbsp butter, softened to room temperature This is mixed into the patties prior to cooking. Butter your pan separately as-needed.
dash cayenne pepper (to add a hint of heat)
Instructions
Place diced lion's mane, onions, and sweet peppers into lightly oiled skillet and sweat for about 15 minutes on low heat (3 on our stove), stirring regularly. The aim is to remove almost all the water from the ingredients, otherwise your crab cakes won't hold together. After 15 minutes, add garlic and sweat for another 5 minutes until no water remains in pan and ingredients are lightly browned. *Our lion's mane was very wet due to recent rains, so if your lion's mane is dry, sweating will be faster (or you may even have to add a little water to your pan when starting so they don't burn). Remove from stove and let cool in bowl for 15-20 minutes.
Add all other ingredients into bowl and stir together. Then mush ingredients together by hand for a few minutes until thoroughly consolidated.
Form and cook a single test cake before making an entire batch. You want to make sure the moisture levels are just right and that the cakes will hold together. Tip 1: Make smaller ~3" diameter cakes to help them stick together and flip easier (larger cakes are more difficult). Tip 2: Let cakes gel together for ~5 minutes before cooking. Cook test cake in buttered skillet on low heat (setting ~3). If the test cake comes apart in the pan, you'll want to add more beaten egg and bread crumbs then try again. Then cook the whole batch!
Serve with Meyer lemon slices and our homemade garlic aioli sauce on top to make them even better! This recipe makes enough cakes for ~6 appetizer-sized servings or 3 large dinner servings.
Our Images and process are below. The recipe says 3 large servings, but if you love them as much as Hannah and I did, you won't want to share 3 ways! LOL
We hope you enjoy and if you make these, please drop us a line and let us know what you thought!