Sage-Battered Mushrooms With Cheddar Fonduta

From Fire in My Belly: Real Cooking by Kevin Gillespie

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Candied Garlic Syrup

• 1  cup sugar
• 1  cup cider vinegar
• 3  whole heads garlic, each clove peeled and trimmed of woody ends (about 30 cloves total)

• Mushrooms

• 10  ounces  oyster mushrooms, preferably large clusters
• 8  ounces sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
•  freshly ground white  salt & pepper
•  canola oil (for frying)
• 1⁄2 cup cornstarch
• 1⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon fresh sage, chiffonade
• 1  teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1  cup  cold  club soda or 1  cup seltzer water

Directions

1. For the Candied Garlic Syrup: In a small nonreactive saucepan, stir together sugar and vinegar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and turn the heat down to low; cook until garlic is golden brown and soft, about 30 minutes. Store garlic in the syrup mixture, covered, in the refrigerator.
2. For the Mushrooms: Trim tough root end from mushrooms, leaving clusters as intact as possible. Set aside.
3. Cut cheese into 1/2-inch chunks and place in a microwave-safe bowl. Loosely cover with wax paper or parchment paper and microwave on 50 percent power until cheese softens but doesn’t completely melt, about 30 seconds.
4. In a 2-quart saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in cheese, a couple of grinds of white pepper, and a small pinch of salt until everything looks smooth. Keep the fonduta warm until you’re ready to serve it. (If you need to hold it for more than an hour, it keeps warm best in a double boiler.).
5. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet. In a large bowl, whisk together cornstarch, flour, fresh and dried sage. Add a few ice cubes to the club soda and swirl to chill. Remove ice cubes and whisk club soda into cornstarch mixture to form a smooth batter. Working with 1 mushroom cluster at a time, dip and swirl cluster in batter to completely coat mushrooms. Let excess batter drip away, then drop clusters, 1 by 1, into the fryer and fry until crispy, about 2 minutes. The mushrooms won’t brown but will have a very crispy coating.
6. Using a spider strainer or tongs, transfer fried mushrooms to rack and immediately sprinkle with salt.
7. For each plate, spoon one-quarter of fonduta in the center, drizzle with Candied Garlic Syrup, then mound one-quarter of fried mushrooms on top.