Devonian period: Ammonites and giant Mushrooms `Manhattan` style
You can trust anything that had stood the test of time: @ 60 + million years!
( photo by author, taken in our front garden)
Once upon a time, a long long time ago in the Devonian period, quirky organisms and curious creatures proliferated planet Earth.
Mind you, we need to go back about 420 million years to get there.
This Devonian period lasted for about 60 million years, which was nearly 200 million years prior to the well known Jurassic period.
During this era Ammonites, such as seen on the photo were abundant everywhere in the seas and oceans of our planet.
They were molluscs, (specifically shelled cephalopods), related to octopus, squid and cuttlefish. They have gone extinct about 66 million years ago.
Here in the UK where we live , not that far from Devon, you can find them all over the place. Sometimes they are quite large in size perhaps 1 m (3 feet )wide. They can be small as well, that fit easily in the palm of your hand. The larger ones are often built into the side walls of houses, or walled fences.
You see them so often here, you don`t notice them any more.
This small one in our front garden is about 30cm (1 foot ) wide. We see it every day as we walk by it and we think nothing of it. Except when I fall over on it, which has happened a few times. Then I notice it!!!
It is such a shame, as this Ammonite is minimum 66 million years old!
It used to swim in the warm seas around here, just like any other molluscs that are swimming around right now. It used to be alive, just like you and I, and just like everything that is alive right now on planet Earth.
However, once it had lived its Life, it died and sunk to the bottom of the sea. It remained there for millions of years till it got fossilized under huge pressure. It slowly turned into the `living stone` object it is today.
It will remain to be like this long long after we are all dead and forgotten, perhaps 66 millions of years from today. That is a long span of time!
Isn`t that just mind blowing?
I think that makes it a bit special… would you agree?
Generally speaking, we can trust something that had stood the test of time. This Ammonite ticks that box more than anything else I could think of right now.
Now onto our other topic:
Who likes mushrooms?
I am glad to see a lot of hands up!
One of those hands is mine.
My wife and I as a plant based couple, we eat huge quantities of all sorts of Fungi. It`s not just the `meaty` texture that mushrooms have that we love so much, but they are ever so flavourful, aromatic, nutritious and healthy!
They are Superfoods!
Some benefits of eating mushrooms are:
Decrease the risk of cancer
Lower sodium intake
Promote lower cholesterol
Protect brain health
Source of vitamin D
Stimulate a healthier gut
Support a healthy immune system
As a chef for over half a century, I have cooked a lot of mushrooms in different restaurants in different countries.
Until recently I used to cook them in either dairy free butter or in extra virgin olive oil.
However, having seen an Ethiopian dish being cooked on TV recently, I have seen a better way.
Chunks(not slices) of fresh mushrooms were cooked in a very hot dry pan with nothing added to it whatsoever! They were done in about 5- 8 minutes.
They shrunk a lot in that time and caramelized beautifully.
Interesting that when you cook mushrooms this way, they start to `whistle` when stirred. It must be the contact between the hot dry pan/pot and the dry mushrooms. It is kind of surprising, even magic! (excuse the pun)
Caramelizing always highlights the flavour of the ingredient, let it be onions, garlic, carrots or most non watery vegetables and fruits.
It is important not to add any salt as salt always brings the water content out of anything you fry or sautee. The `dropped` water would stop it from caramelizing and it would just boil it in its own juice, which we do not want to happen.
This applies to onions as well as other vegetables when frying them: never add any salt to them , only at the end of the initial frying by which time they had caramelized.
The next time you make a pasta dish let`s say with mushrooms, try this out:
Make your creamy or tomato based sauce as you usually do with some sliced mushrooms. Separately, in a dry hot pan, caramelize your quartered mushrooms. Stir occasionally. After about 6 or so minutes, add your salt and black pepper and carry on dry frying for another minute or so.
When plating up, just add the separately cooked caramelized mushrooms on the top. For a zing, fine grate some lemon zest on top and sprinkle it generously with some chopped flat leaf parsley.
You will have a taste explosion in your mouth as you`ll bite into them!
I guarantee that you will never look back and you will never cook mushrooms in any other way again!
Something interesting about the ancestors of todays mushrooms:
They were called the Prototaxites and they lived at the same period as the Ammonites. They were up to 10 m tall and about 1 m wide.
There were no trees yet and these were the skyscrapers of the Devonian period. They had no caps on them, and as such they looked like giant fungal towers. Everything else was just about an inch or so tall, the contrast was just like a human being standing by a sky scraper today!
Just like the Ammonites, they too have gone extinct millions of years ago. Possibly at the same time when our planet got hit by that giant asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs too.
However, the off springs of those giant fungi pillars , are still very much with us to this very day. They have managed to hang on while many other life forms have gone under! Isn`t that a miracle on it`s own?
I honestly don`t know what I would do without my beloved mushrooms!
Especially what would my Life be without my favourite dried Shiitake?
Just re hydrate them in cold or hot water for a few hours and you have the tastiest, healthiest as well as the best textured mushroom you can ask for. The soaking liquid is also full of umami flavour so use it in your sauce etc.
Shiitake is especially wonderful in stir fries and in Thai & Chinese Curry.
My other favourite is Porcini mushrooms.
We buy them dried, same as the Shiitake and other dehydrated forest mushrooms.
Porcini is said to be one of the top mushrooms as it rules like a king! You just need to simmer a small pinch of it in a pot of fresh mushrooms and the entire dish will be infused with its flavours and aromas! It is truly royal!
In the central and eastern parts of Europe, we cook a lot of sauerkraut in many different ways. Put a small pinch of porcini into your big pot of simmering sauerkraut, and watch what happens! A Miracle, nothing less!
As you can see, I have much room for mushroom!
I think I better not say too much:
Instead I let this super genius food ingredient speak for itself.
