Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Garlic mushrooms

This is a very simple dish.  This is the side that matches so many things, as well as being a meal on its own when served on some lovely buttered sourdough toast.  I use these mushrooms with breakfast, as a filling for omelettes, I serve them as a side to meat/veg dishes, use it as a base to make a mushroom pasta sauce.  It's my "standard" mushroom dish, and I'm surprised I haven't posted it before!  I cook all mushrooms like this at some point.
You can make it with any mushrooms, but normally I just use regular white mushrooms (either in button or cap form).  Today, I made them with chestnut mushrooms, which are meatier and stronger than regular cap mushrooms.  Regardless of the type of mushroom, choose the heaviest, firmest ones you can find.  If they feel light as air and spongy, they aren't fresh.

I usually just wipe mushrooms with a kitchen towel to remove any dirt.  I don't wash unless i'm preparing for a pregnant lady like my lovely sis.

Garlic sautéed mushrooms

Mushrooms (around 400 grams) sliced into .5cm slices
butter
olive oil
A few cloves of garlic
freshly ground pepper
salt

Prepare all the ingredients before starting to cook :) Super Mario mushroom joins his friends :P
Heat  some butter and olive oil in a frypan or wok until the butter is melted and has started bubbling.  Grind plenty of pepper into the oil.

Add mushrooms and toss them in the butter.  Keep stir-frying on a pretty high heat.  Continue until the mushrooms are all squeaking and sizzling, add the garlic, and keep stir-frying until there's a little bit of water coming out of the mushrooms.  Add some salt to pan, this will draw out the moisture.

If you are making pasta, this is the time to add the cream or wine or whatever you want to add to it to make it all lovely and saucy (see a recipe for gnocchi with mushrooms cooked in this way here)

To have them as a side dish, just keep stir-frying until the water has mostly evaporated, taste and season if necessary, and serve piping hot :)
aaand they're done!
Also lovely with a squeeze of lemon, and/or chopped herbs, or add a tiny amount of white wine (make sure it evaporates mostly!) when you add the salt for a lovely tang :)

Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. Nice recipe, I will try it and let you know.

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  2. I tried. My mushrooms went insanely small and had no taste. I shouldnt cook.

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    1. Hey Jake :) I completely understand, just remember that mushrooms can be pretty flavourless without enhancement. they don't need a lot, just enough to bring out their flavour. Real butter helps too! Make sure you put some salt once the water starts coming out of the mushrooms, and don't cook them too much longer after that. They do shrink quite considerably so either use large mushrooms, and there's nothing wrong with keeping smaller ones whole, or just cut in half. ^_^ Good luck!!!

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  3. Made these and they were gorgeous thanks!

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  4. Yes these are delicious and I will make these again

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