Mushrooms

[BeauNoze]

Yesterday, I made the husband do a run to the mushroom farm.

I am now the proud owner of approx. 8 pounds of fungi- mostly white button, with some creminis thrown in for good measure.

Tell me some of your favorite mushroom ideas.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Vegetarian Stroganoff with tons of dill and sour cream over butter noodles with a touch of tamari for depth.

Also, mushroom tarts -- you can make your own Pate Brisee or, if cheating is in order, roll out some store-bought puff pastry.

Edited to add: Cream of Mushroom soup with a splash of Sherry.

Edited March 2, 2007 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[merstar]

These are delicious. I drizzle them with a little extra virgin olive oil before baking:

Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms:

http://www.recipezaar.com/11644

[Dave the Cook]

All good ideas, but don't forget to reserve a couple of pounds for duxelles, a great thing to have in the freezer (in half-cup portions) for last-minute additions to stews, meat dishes and pasta sauces.

[tino27]

Make duxelle.

Then you can do all sorts of delicious things with them. Take a bit of filling and place in some phyllo sheets and roll up a-la eggroll style. Brush with some melted butter and bake for about 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven and you've got some dynamite appetizers.

Or use it with some eggs and cream and make a lovely quiche.

Or layer it between lasagne pasta sheets to make a yummy veggie lasagne.

[tino27]

All good ideas, but don't forget to reserve a couple of pounds for duxelles, a great thing to have in the freezer (in half-cup portions) for last-minute additions to stews, meat dishes and pasta sauces.

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Apparently, great minds post 1 minute apart.

[Dejah]

Hungarian mushroom soup.

[hummingbirdkiss]

grilled steak and lots of butter fried mushrooms

[Pan]

Funghi trifolati!

[GTO]

Mushroom Pate - You should be able to freeze it too.

[ludja]

Mushroom Pierogies are delcious and freeze well. This recipe uses quite a bit of dried porcini as well but you could adjust the amount of button and wild mushrooms if you wanted to.

Dejah: Can you sketch out a recipei for the Hungarian Mushroom Soup? Is is something like sauteed onions and mushrooms, followed by stock, thickened with a little roux, flavored with paprika and finished with sour cream? For some reason, none of my Hungarian cookbooks have a mushroom soup recipe...

[C. sapidus]

Save a few mushrooms for hongos al vapor from Diana Kennedy’s Art of Mexican Cooking. Chop and saute white onion, garlic, and chiles. Add mushrooms, salt, and epazote (or cilantro), cover, and cook until the mushrooms are tender. Eat as a side dish, add to soup, or reduce the liquid and use as a taco or omelet filling.

ETA: Thanks for reminding me to use the mushrooms in the fridge -- I made hongos al vapor for Breakfast! (clickety).

Edited March 3, 2007 by C. sapidus (log)

[Joisey]

Don't salt them when you saute them and you'll get nice color and great flavor. Season them when you're done.

[ludja]

Don't salt them when you saute them and you'll get nice color and great flavor.  Season them when you're done.

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I think it is good when sauteeing mushrooms to not salt them in the beginning as they will throw off too much water quickly and the mushrooms will steam more than brown, as you mentioned.

However, I do like to add salt during the last few minutes of sauteeing. I think it helps draw out a bit more water at this point but as the bulk of the water has already left the mushrooms and the mushrooms are already browned you get the added intensity of flavor and no loss in color, etc.

[C. sapidus]

Joisey and ludka: Thanks for the tip about when to salt mushrooms -- I did not know that. For hongos al vapor, the goal is to steam the mushrooms in their own juices, so salting at the beginning makes sense (hongos al vapor = steamed mushrooms).

Now I’m curious – next time, I’ll try salting at the end (hongos no vapor?).