Donna Currie of Cookistry is known for her baking, but when no one is looking, she loves experimenting in the kitchen with interesting ingredients and new techniques. The best of those experiments end up as recipes on her blog.
Candy cap mushrooms smell and taste like maple – and what pairs better with maple than pork? A pinch of sugar adds to the sweetness in the crust, but it’s nowhere near the glazes that you find on hams – this is a savory dish, through and through.
Candy Cap Crusted Rack of Pork
with squash and apple barley
For the pork:
1 rack of kurobuta pork – 4 ribs – 3-4 pounds
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup* candy cap mushrooms, buzzed in a spice grinder to a powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
For the barley:
3/4 cup barley
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cooked winter squash, mashed
1/4 of a large onion, diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
To make the pork:
Bring the pork out of the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Put the pork on a baking sheet and sprinkle it with the salt. Coat the pork with the mushroom powder, putting most of it on the top, as much as you can get to stick. Sprinkle with the sugar.
Roast the pork roast at 325 until it reads 155 degrees in the center – about 20 minutes per pound.
Let the roast rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing. You can serve the roast sliced in thin slices or as several thicker chops.
To make the barley:
Place all ingredients in your rice cooker. Stir to combine. Cook on brown rice setting. Stir again when the barley is done cooking. If you prefer, you can cook the barley on the stovetop, but if you have a rice cooker, it makes it a bit easier.
Serve the barley alongside the pork.
*I didn’t measure the mushrooms before I powdered them, but 1/4 cup is a good estimate.