FORAGE/COOK: Puffball Parmigiana
This puffball parmigiana recipe is a delicious way to showcase your finest giant puffball mushroom find. Slices of puffball mushroom are sliced, breaded, and fried, then served on a bed of buttered spaghetti and layered with marinara sauce and melty grated cheese.
I didn’t find these beauties myself – they were a gift from a friend who did, and a fantastic birthday surprise. We watched their dog for the day (always fun, as he and our dog are buddies and get so excited to see each other, even if they just nap in separate rooms most of the day) and when they picked him up that evening, they had an unexpected gift for us… a canvas tote bag with two giant puffballs, one a little bigger than a softball, and one oblong one about the size of half a soccer ball…. I joked that their gift of “fungi for a day with a fun guy” was an excellent trade! I haven’t been lucky enough to find one myself and had no idea what to expect other than that I knew they were edible, and couldn’t wait to find out what they tasted like.
Giant Puffball Mushrooms: Calvatia gigantea
Puffball mushrooms have a spongy and almost crumbly texture when you slice into them, then are tofu-like after they’re cooked, but with a mild bolete-like fungal flavor. Like all wild mushrooms, they must be cooked before eating (to break down the chitin and other compounds that could make you ill) but these are one of the safest wild mushrooms for the beginner mycologist, as they’re very simple to get a positive ID and have few look-alikes.
Avoid small puffballs- anything softball sized or larger is almost certainly going to check out ok, and cut the mushroom open to look for a uniform spongy texture and bright white color throughout with no gill-structure or discolorations. Unopened amanita mushrooms can look like small puffballs before they’re fully developed, but should be easy to tell apart when sliced, as they will have gills and gaps inside, rather than the uniform white spongy texture throughout of puffballs… still, it’s best to stick to the larger giant puffballs which are much less likely to be masquerading as something else. Do not eat any puffball mushrooms that are yellowish or brown inside, as these are overripe (and taste bad) or a potentially toxic species.
If you are new to foraging mushrooms, it’s best to learn in-person from an experienced guide, but there are also lots of resources available, including mushroom identification groups and guidebooks, and giant puffballs are one of the safer mushrooms for beginners to learn on their own. This is a pretty good guide for learning what to look for when identifying edible puffball mushrooms vs possible lookalikes that are harmful or poisonous: Identifying Edible Puffballs (Totally Wild UK)
How to Prepare Giant Puffballs
Once you’re sure you have a giant puffball, what to do with it? This choice edible mushroom is very versatile for eating freshly cooked, with a fairly neutral flavor and texture that is great sliced and fried in butter, breaded and fried like in our recipe, or even marinated and baked, grilled, or smoked. They will shrink and release a fair amount of liquid when cooked, so keep that in mind! You can peel them if you like, or leave the peels on if they are clean (trim or wash any bits that are dirty or damaged, and be sure to check for insect damage at the base, which should be trimmed away). If you opt to peel them, the peels will come off easily with the aid of a small paring knife, or even just with your fingertips.
Puffball Parmigiana Recipe Tips
I opted to do a southern-style cornmeal and breadcrumb breading on ours, and served the crispy slices of fried mushroom on top of a plate of good organic Italian spaghetti tossed with butter, topped with marinara and cheese, then broiled or warmed in a hot oven just long enough to melt the cheese. And that’s it, you’ve just made Puffball Parmiagiana!
You can use your favorite marinara sauce recipe here, or a jar of good quality canned homemade or store-bought sauce.
These are best assembled just before serving, though you can also layer the slices, sauce, and cheese in a casserole dish, bake, slice, and serve with the pasta to make this dish ahead of time or if you are cooking for a crowd… the mushroom breading won’t be crispy but it will still be delicious (and more like my favorite eggplant parmigiana recipe, from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking). However, for this dish, if possible I prefer individually constructing the plates so that the fried slices of mushrooms stay as crisp as possible.
Puffball Parmigiana
Equipment
- large frying pan
- pasta pot and strainer
Ingredients
Southern Fried Puffball Mushroom Slices
- 1 med-large giant puffball mushroom
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup flour (divided)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs or panko
- ⅔ cup cornmeal
- 2 tsp italian seasoning or 50/50 oregano and basil
- ½ tsp paprika (smoked paprika is nice if you have it)
- peanut, grapeseed, or vegetable oil (enough to make 1" of oil in frying pan) (can substitute lard or tallow, or a blend of high-temperature oils and light olive oil)
Pasta and Sauce
- 1 quart marinara sauce
- 8 oz shredded Italian cheese blend or mozzarella
- 3 oz grated Parmesan cheese
- 16 oz spaghetti (can serve on linguine or spaghetti rigati)
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt for pasta water I never measure this, just pour a few tablespoons of kosher salt into the pasta water. It should taste mildly salty, but not like brine.
Instructions
- Wash, brush off, or peel your mushroom if the outside is dirty. Otherwise, slice the mushroom into ¾" thick slices, aiming for uniform thickness. Sprinkle the mushrooms lightly with kosher salt on both sides and let them sit while you prepare the seasoned flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs for your breading.
- Whisk the eggs together in a small wide bowl (large enough to hold one or two slices of mushroom in the egg wash) with a few tablespoons of milk or water and a pinch of salt (about ½ tsp).
- Sprinkle half the flour into a small shallow pan or dish, and season it with a pinch of salt and some fresh black pepper. Pat the mushroom slices lightly with a paper towel or clean cloth if they are damp, then coat the mushroom slices lightly with the flour on both sides, laying them into the dish and dusting them well to coat as evenly as possible. Set them aside on a sheet pan, in a single layer if possible.
- Add the rest of the flour, the cornmeal, bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, and paprika to the pan or dish that you used to flour the mushrooms and shake gently or stir to combine.
- Dip the floured mushroom slices into the egg mixture (turning them to wet both sides and then into the breading. Try to keep one hand for the dry side and one hand for the wet side, or use a fork or flat slotted spoon to help dip the slices in the egg, or you will end up with balls of breading on your fingers. If it gets too messy, stop and rinse your hands and start again. If your mushroom is very large, you may need to make up more breading mixture or save the rest of your mushroom slices in the fridge for another recipe. If you end up with leftover breading and it's not too wet, you can freeze it and use it again later.
- Heat about 1" of oil in a large, heavy pan (cast iron is best if you have it) on medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is beginning to shimmer, carefully start frying your slices of mushroom. You can test the oil with a small piece of mushroom or the handle of a wooden spoon (small bubbles of air will form on the wooden spoon handle if the oil is hot)- you want the oil to bubble up around the edges and brown the breading quickly but not be hot enough to burn your oil or the breading. If the oil isn't hot enough though, your mushrooms will soak up a lot of oil and be soggy. Lay the mushrooms gently into the pan away from you, and also be careful to flip them away from you as well, so you don't get splashed with oil. A steel mesh lid or frying cover can help make this less messy if you have one.
- Keep frying the mushroom slices in batches until they are all browned. Set the rest aside and hot in a warm oven or stove-top, and let them drain on wire racks or paper towel-lined sheet pans, in a single layer if possible so they don't get soggy.
- As you are finishing the mushrooms, heat a pot of lightly salted water to cook your pasta, and heat up the marinara sauce. Stir the marinara occasionally so it doesn't scorch. Cook the pasta al dente according to the package directions (usually 9-13 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pasta), drain immediately, and toss with a couple tablespoons of butter or good olive oil.
- Distribute the pasta into the wide bowls or serving plates. Top each with a ladle of sauce, then one or several slices of fried mushrooms, then another ladle of sauce, and finally, finish with a handful of grated cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
- Pop the assembled plates under the broiler, or in a hot oven just long enough to melt the cheese, and serve immediately.
