A mushroom is a mushroom is not just a mushroom

I like to cook.  I may not always create everything from scratch but I do enjoy jazzing up stuff.  Last night was Big Pasta Dinner Night (a revival of a tradition from my husband's bachelor days) and I took out a jar of sauce that I'd gotten on sale at Henry's and put it in the pot.  I tasted it and it NEEDED something.  So I added some garlic and zucchini and chopped bell peppers.  It still needed something.  I added pumpkin puree and it still needed something.  I added a carrot slurry that I mixed in the blender.  And it STILL needed.  That's when I had the bright idea of making it a mushroom sauce.  I added in some sliced buttom mushrooms, and then I remembered we had dried shiitaake mushrooms in the cupboard....and then I saw the tree ears.

Tree Ear fungus growing on a tree.

Tree Ears are found in Asian grocery stores with all the other dried fungus.  Once rehydrated in some warm water, they are tasty and nutritious and an indespensible ingredient in Chinese cooking.  They are not, however, common or even heard of in European cooking.  But I thought, a fungus is a fungus, why not add them to the sauce.

Button mushrooms have a meaty flavor and are delicious in sauce or on pizza (or even grilled by themselves).  Shiitaake mushrooms, once rehydrated, also have a rich meaty flavor.  Tree Ears (or Mu Er as they are called in Mandarin) have a rather chewy texture reminiscent of overcooked calimari.  I'd forgotten this quintessential characteristic of the tree ear.  It has been years since I used to them, and I think the last time I used them it was for Hot and Sour Soup which really needs that texture.

My dear husband was a bit taken aback when he saw black strings in the pasta sauce, but he tried them.  And he did not like them.  He is from New York City where they take Italian food very seriously.  Tree Ears are not a welcome addition into list of approved ingredients.

Sigh.  I didn't mind them, a fact which further highlighted in my DH's mind how much an infidel I am.... the tree ears are now strictly relegated to Chinese cuisine in our household. Maybe they would be good breaded and fried in olive oil and garlic....