LIONS MANE CRAB CAKES...WHAT IS LIONS MANE? #FFF

Hey, do you know what day it is? Um, let me think...being unemployed, (retired that is), with no clock to punch, not a boss in sight, sometimes the day of the week just slips my mind.

But NOT today... It's Friday, yep, and you all know what that means...it's our food fightin' Friday, with CAPITAL F.

So let's get ready to fumble, fling ,fork, frenzy on some fantastic food.

Here we go my foodie friends, this is going to be fun!

Today I am serving a new dish I tried recently with a most unusual ingredient.
Lions Mane. What the heck is lions mane? That's what I said to @thebigsweed when he brought it home from a local farmers market. "I'm supposed to cook that thing, it's weird", now I have to figure out a recipe.
Thanks to Mr. Google, I soon learned what this strange thing was sitting in my kitchen.
Hericium Erinaceus , now that's a mouthful. It's a big mushroom that grows wild in North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. The amazing thing is, this weird big white mushroom was spotted last year on our #farm, we even took a few photos
but never moved forward to research it.

We now know it grows on hardwoods, is part of the tooth fungus group and it's ok to eat. Whoopie!

But I still don't know how to cook it or what other food groups should be pared, I mean paired, with this bad boy.
I complained, moaned and stomped around the kitchen, ready to throw that big white ugly thing out into the backyard.Then I saw it, my saving grace, on the table was a 4x6 index card with a blow by blow description of...wait for it,
LIONS MANE CRAB CAKES. That wonderful woman at the market had provided this recipe just for me, I was sure it was JUST for me, I love crab cakes.
Here's a picture of the ingredients.

Now just for fun, I wanted to weigh this gianormous mushroom. Pretty darn big, right?

So I began with the chopping, slicing and dicing. I had to sweat the mushroom first to get out the water, that big guy was really bloated. It took a while to slim him down and squeeze out all the water. Once that was done, the rest was easy. All I did was sauté the scallions, add the lions mane, crab meat, a little butter and brown it up. Then remove from heat let cool enough to handle, then add a couple eggs, panko bread crumbs, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, chives, parsley, pinch of tarragon, a nice shot of hot sauce and grated parmesan.
Worked all this good stuff into a nice, hold together consistency, formed some nice thick patties and into a 425 degree oven. Beautiful!

With a side of baked cauliflower and a fresh tomato salad...Dinner was served.

The best part of the whole cooking adventure...Finding this big, beautiful, fungus growing right here on the #homestead.
There's nothing better than discovering another #food source provided for us by my friend, Mother #nature.
Thanks mom...

A big shout out to our foodie friends @idig, @jlsplatts and @dandays for having the #fff party. Thanks guys.
Now let's eat.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!