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Pour the remaining ½ cup of bread crumbs onto a plate. Form 3 tablespoons of the mixture into a ball. Flatten the ball against your palm, shaping it into a cake. Dredge the cake in the bread crumbs. Heat a skillet with ¼ inch of olive oil. When the oil is hot, drop in several cakes and fry until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Drain on a wire cooling rack. If you prefer to bake the cakes, preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the cakes on an oiled, parchment-lined baking sheet and brush each one with a little olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for 5 minutes, or until the cakes are brown on top and crisp. Serve hot.

Grilled Maitake Mushrooms

Start this recipe the night before serving so that the mushrooms can marinate overnight. Widely known as “hens of the woods” because of their richness and dense texture, maitakes (see image at end of recipe) can look intimidating, like a strange piece of brown coral. But they’re delicious, meaty, and easy to work with. If you’ve never tried maitakes, I encourage you to experiment with them. Portobellos, shiitakes, or any mushroom big enough to grill may also be used.

Serves 4

1 cup olive oil

½ cup soy sauce

2 scallions, green and white parts separated and green parts thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons honey

5 tablespoons white wine

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1½ pounds maitake mushrooms

½ bunch watercress, roots trimmed

Put the olive oil, soy sauce, scallion whites, garlic, honey, and 2 tablespoons of the wine in a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt.

Cut the maitake into slices 1 inch thick. It’s important that each slice be attached to the large stem at the bottom; otherwise the slice will fall apart and be hard to handle on the grill. To avoid this problem, simply pick up the mushroom and look at where the stem is. Turn the mushroom on its side while gently slicing, making sure the connection between the frilly part of the mushroom and the stem stays intact. Place the slices in a shallow rimmed dish and coat them with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Heat a grill until it’s very hot and arrange the maitakes on the grill, reserving the marinade. Press the slices with a metal spatula to form grill marks, and brush them with some of the reserved marinade. Grill for 3 minutes, then turn and press down with the spatula again. Brush with some of the remaining marinade and grill for 2 minutes more. Set the maitakes aside.

Heat a sauté pan over high heat and add the reserved marinade and the remaining 3 tablespoons white wine. Bring to a boil and reduce for a few minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

To serve, arrange a bed of watercress on four individual plates. Slice the maitakes into a few pieces and divide among the plates, arranging them on top of the watercress. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce over the mushrooms and garnish with the scallion greens.

Ginkgo Nut Dumplings with Simple Dipping Sauce

Ginkgos are infamous for the acrid smell of their fruit, but the nuts hidden inside are a treasured ingredient in Asian cuisine. In and around the Chinatown neighborhoods of many cities, you can find people under trees collecting the nuts in autumn. Go out and join them, but be sure to wear protective gloves when touching the fruit and extracting the nuts; otherwise, the smell will remain on your hands. Remove the flesh outdoors—the less you bring into your home the better. You can find canned or dried ginkgos in Asian grocery stores.

Makes 24 dumplings

1¼ cups ginkgo nuts

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil

Salt

3 scallions, green and white parts separated and thinly sliced

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons mirin

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bunch bok choy, green part only, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon flour

1 package round dumpling wrappers

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Red pepper flakes (optional)