Ingredients:
1 lb. mushrooms
1/4 lb. butter (Never promised healthy.)
1 lg. Chopped onion (or two leek whites finely sliced!
1 tbs. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
4 heaped tbs. flour
6 tbs. Cream or half and half
About 3 cups water
2 beef bouillon cube(I tend to use chicken broth or chicken stock cubes – crushed.)
Dash of Maggi – the German equivalent of Worcester sauce. Magie in German is Magic!
Melt butter in a wide casserole or frying pan, add chopped mushrooms, onion and stir till mixture starts to brown (about four minutes), then add flour, salt, pepper, parsley. When all is mixed well, add water and bouillon cube and stir till thickened, add cream and more water and simmer uncovered ten minutes or to desired consistency.
I must note that these were usually the white button mushrooms, I nearly always use the brown buttons. Same species but the brown has calories — white hardly any. Use others by all means!
At your age, you better stop courting and begin groveling” Wayne Ostlund
More on Mushrooms. BTW we have a great fungible presence in Sequim. I suspect the proper reverence being: Mycological
In the fall, I hunt local mushrooms with great enthusiasm. I pick the young ones, before they become powdery or bleached. I bring them home, trim the leaflets with some of the stems.
I put them in a bowl of water and salt to rid them of the insects ( cold water). They are then drained, patted dry with paper towel and cut up into smaller pieces.
Then dice up a sweet onion or shallots and cover the bottom of an iron skillet with them, put the mushrooms on top, add a full crushed garlic bulb on top of the mushrooms, cover and slowly cook them down until most of the moisture is gone.
I then add a cup or so of burgundy wine and a stick of butter, occasionally some sesame seed oil or other flavorings, and cook it down again. When they are cooked down, I cool them, and package them in( small portions) small zip lock sandwich bags. I roll them up and put the date & contents on the bag with a Sharpie marker and then put them in my freezer. When I want to add to a meat dish, I take out a package, thaw it and add to the dish. They are also awesome in an omelet.
Shiitake Balsamic Vinaigrette or Chanterelles
3 cups canola oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
1 cup water 1 cup red wine
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
2-3 cups dried Shitake mushrooms, chopped/ground into small pieces (about twice the size of a peppercorn. If some of it gets ground into powder along the way, all the better!)
Combine all ingredients in a vessel that can be shaken without leaking. Then shake that puppy! Allow to sit for 24 hours in order for the Shitakes to swell up and distribute their flavor throughout the mixture. Serve over salad or as a dip for raw vegetables.
I must end with this great video on mushrooms and their uses and benefits: