Mushroom Sautée
This very simple dish is all about the mushrooms. With few ingredients, this simple dish can be served as a side dish or as a main course. With a meaty texture and flavor, with tiny little tweaks it can be adapted to suit a large variety of styles, ranging from oriental inspired dishes, to a traditional sunday roast. The big secret behind this dish is with the cooking method. Though simple, it is worth paying attention to it to get the best results. Though this recipe has portion sizes as it can be adapted to any size of mushrooms, to work as a side dish for one person or as a main course for a larger crowd. I would roughly consider about one cup of mushrooms to be about the right amount for a single person (as the main part of the dish). About half of this will be used as a garnish. Texture is a big part of this dish, so how you chop your mushrooms is fundamental. I always go for chunky, somewhat like I would cut my meat for a strogonoff.
This is the basic recipe for the oriental inspired version. I’ll throw in a couple of replacements below the recipe to get you inspired.
Ingredients
1 cup of coarsely chopped mushrooms (porcini, crimini, shitake, oyster) 1 or 2 cloves Garlic 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil 4 tablespoons soy sauce
Method
Prep your mushrooms. Wash* and coarsely chop them. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the mushrooms, with no oils or anything else. In a few minutes, they’ll start releasing liquids. Keep gently tossing them, allowing the liquids to evaporate. (you could drain the liquids, but you’ll be missing out on some serious flavor). Once the liquids are mostly gone, transfer them to a dish and get the pan back onto the heat. Add your butter to the pan, and when it stops frothing, get your mushrooms back in the pan, along with the garlic. When the mushrooms start to pick up some browning, add the soy sauce, toss them around a bit, taste, adjust any salt you might need and serve.
Variations
This recipe is very versatile and can easily be adjusted by substituting or adding a couple of ingredients.
More oriental puch?
Try adding some finely chopped ginger along with the garlic. Maybe drizzle some sesame oil at the end of the dish? Decorate with chives.
More oriental with a twist?
Add the finely chopped ginger to the pan along with the garlic. Add a good tablespoon or two of brown sugar to the mix before adding the soy sauce. Decorate with sesame seeds.
For your sunday roast
Replace the soy sauce with a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce or Balsamic vinegar.
For your pasta
Add a good dollop of cream to the mix at the end. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream.
Strogonoff inspired?
When ready, add a shot of brandy (30 ml) and flambée them. When the brandy starts to dry up, turn off the heat and stir in the cream.