by jackie | Nov 24, 2024 | Books, Cheese, DIY, Food, Holiday DIY, Holidays, Homemade Liquor
Recently, a chat with a friend about holiday spreads set me off pondering a thing I have casually noticed, but never really pondered. My friend used the phrase “I’m known for”.
I have no idea what I am “known for” with regard to specific dishes though you all may feel differently. I honestly have never planned a menu with my signature in mind, and it reminded me sharply of my own family holiday traditions.
I recognized early that there were things “owned” by my mom or her sisters, and those were items that I unconsciously but deliberately did not include on my own holiday table. And honestly, now that my Mom and her sisters are gone, there are massive tradition gaps that are a bit confusing. Is it more respectful to try to recreate? Or is it better to simply feel the absence of the dish and reminisce the contributions and gifts of the missed person? Still working my way through that one, what do you think?
I also noticed that my Mom was not one to avoid someone else’s signature thing, and her cookie tray, while specific and recognizable as hers, included some items that were really signature to one or the other of her sisters.
For my own table, I am guided by my interests, my ethics, and things I want to try. Ingredients I have learned about and am exploring, places I have visited and been inspired by, and generally I am more about process than final product. Things that excited me, that I want to share. I am also motivated to make the spread non-performative, and one that allows me to be a guest at my own party as much as possible.
Densely packed dates, walnuts, apricots, and cherries barely held together with buckwheat flour and very little sugar.
A thing I am very interested in is the more European mindset about pastries and baked goods. Removed from the insanity of mental guilt, cravings, poor nutrition and addictive behaviors inspired by American marketing and advertising, desserts here have become so emotionally complicated. But guess what? They are food. Nutritious food when made with nutritious ingredients.
By swapping whole, ancient, and non-wheat flours & nuts for our nutritionally stripped commodity ingredients, desserts can be returned to their rightful, satiating, and sane place in our everyday diet. And that is precisely the focus of Alice Medrich’s beautiful book, “Flavor Flours”.
I started with buckwheat, because we have a local mill selling their own flour at our local feed store and meat market and it easily presented itself. I did not know yet that buckwheat was not a true grain, but is in fact related to sorrel and rhubarb. Yet, the seeds can be cooked like a grain, and made into flour, and are considered a pseudo-grain. It can have a robust, earthy flavor, and the treatment of the flour matters more than we are used to, yielding varying textures.
To my surprise, both buckwheat recipes I tried from the book ended up disappointing with their blandness. Perhaps my expectations were set too high by lovely descriptives like flowery, rose, and honey and praise for the magical quality added by the buckwheat flour. Which was not untrue, but still not as magical as I expected.
Not ready to give up just yet. I recalled a thing that maybe I was once known for on my holiday baking trays. I used to make these fancy little miniature almond-orange cakes that were finished off with a glaze that was memorable. That glaze made the cakes age so well, and took on a bit of a crystalline quality that I just loved.
And that glaze idea was exactly the thing that makes this date nut cake with cherries and buckwheat a signature thing. But I’m gonna tell you right off, this cake is poorly named. I would not use the word cake, or bread to describe it. It is dense, packed with fruit and nuts, and very little sugar. The batter is just enough to bind the fruit & nut mix into a sliceable loaf. A little goes a long way, carved super thin, the slices look beautiful on a charcuterie board, and pair well with butter, cream cheese, and stronger cheeses – I found the stilton in huntsman to be extra nice.
For the finishing glaze, most liquors you have on hand should be fine excepting things like gin. Brandy always works, Contreau, whiskey, schnapps… I happened to have been gifted a bottle of cherry liquor brought by a friend from Lisbon, and that extra fruitiness was subtle perfection. Homebrew liquor could be very nice.
About the book, “Flavor Flours.” It. Is. LOVELY. GORGEOUS. EQUISITE even.
The Carnegie Library has three available copies, and Alice Medrich has also expanded this topic into another separate book, Flavor Flours Gluten Free. But, this is not the book I would recommend if you are just beginning a journey away from processed foods and looking for practical knowledge to apply to your everyday meals. This is all about digging deeper into non-commodity baked goods.
- 1/2 + 2TBS cup buckwheat flour 70 grams
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt I use Morton's kosher
- 3 Tbs firmly packed brown sugar 35 grams
- 1 cup dates pitted and cut into quarters 175 grams
- 1/4 cup lightly packed dried apricot halves or dried pluots cut in half 40 grams
- 1/4 cup dried tart or Bing cherries 40 grams
- 1-3/4 cup walnut pieces 175 grams
- 2 eggs large
- 1-1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 TBS liquor Brandy, whiskey, schnapps, etc
- 2 tsp water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 TBS butter calls for unsalted, but salted is fine
8x4 (four cup) loaf pan
parchament paper
Line an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan, bottom and all four sides wth parchament paper
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 300°F
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add brown sugar, dates, apricots, cherries and walnuts, and mix thoroughly with your fingers, separating any sticky fruit pieces. Set aside
Whisk the eggs ad vanilla in a medium bowl until lightened in color. Scrape the misture into the fruit & nut mixtureand mix gently with a spatula until all the pieces are coated with batter. Scrape into the prepared pan
To make the glaze, in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the Grand Marnier, water, granulated sugar and butter and heat until the butter melts, about 1 1⁄2 minutes. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and let cool for 1 minute.
Bake for 60 - 80 minutes, until the top feels firm and crusted. Brush the warm cakes with the glaze; allow to cool in the pan on a rack. Let cool completely before serving.
Using the parchament paper, lift the loaf from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut very thin slices. This cake can be stored, airtight for at least 1 week at room temperature, longer in the refrigerator. I wrap in waxed paper. Makes an excellent gift.
by jackie | Sep 29, 2024 | Care of the Soul, Dessert, DIY, Eating Local, Food, Foraging, Gratitude, Lard, Local Farmers, Pie, Uncategorized
Hand pie, fry pie, stack pie, fruit pie, cream pie, depression pie…. is there anything more humble yet sublime than homemade pie?
There is nothing that better represents how, with a little ingenuity and elbow grease, pleasure and love can come from the kitchen even when times are tough. Today, as we near October, Pennsylvania is thick into apple season, and my wild trees have been giving up their fruit. This year was a particularly good one for all the fruits here, for which we are all grateful.
I used to get all cheffy and elaborate when making pies and preserves, but now that I have come to savor the difference between supermarket produce and the things I seek out from local farms and forests, I want to keep the focus on the particulars of the fruit, and keep the seasonings simple.
My wild apples are unlike those from the orchard, being a little different in texture and very intense in flavor. They are also as wild as can be, so have odd skin color and blemishes, which do not bother me at all. For baking, I like a mix of varieties – which always makes a pie more interesting. I like a crisp and tart variety mixed with a good Golden delicious or two. Delicious apples have gotten a bad rap after years of being the apple favorite of elementary schools, hospitals, and convenience stores, which is entirely unfair. A good Delicious apple has a juicy-sweet spiciness, and a texture that bakes up soft and tender. I was pretty delighted to discover a wild tree that has knobby, small, very seedy fruit with a Golden Delicious flavor, though they are kind of a pain to peel and woud take a ton to make a full pie.
I do pack my pie with lots of fruit and little else, and stick to crusts made from fats like butter, lard, or a combo. This is a very basic recipe, adapted from my Mom’s McCall’s Cook Book, in which I have discovered a surprising number of new-old ideas. It can be easily adapted to pretty much any fruit, adapting a little for straining the excess liquid when using juicier fruits – I find 1/2 cup of liquid is the perfect amount to form a softly gelled, not runny fruit filling.
Bonus: If you strain off excess fruit liquid, remember to make some fruit shrub using your remaining vinegar water from the pie crust.
So, here’s your next weekend plan – Hit your farmer’s market for apples & snacks, go home & bake yourself a pie, go for a tramp in the woods, come home, enjoy pie. Best of all, Sunday morning pie for breakfast is the best…
- 1 recipe Pastry for 2-crust pie I've included my recipe in this post, but If making dough keeps you from this simple pleasure, use store bought pre-rolled crust
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 8 cups peeled and thinly sliced apples 10 - 12 medium apples
- 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- dash kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, clove, flour, and salt, mixing well.
Preheat oven to 375°F, arrange rack in the center of oven.
On a lightly floured surface, roll one of your pastry disks into an 11-inch circle. Line your pie pan and set aside.
Add your sugar mixture to your sliced apples in a large bowl, tossing lightly to combine well
Turn the apples and spice into the prepared pie crust, mounding highest in center. with a knife, cut small chunks of butter and dot evenly atop the apples
Roll out the remaining pastry disk into an 11-inch circle. Gently place on top of pie, trimming excess using a sharp knife so the top crust is very slightly larger than the ecge.
Gently roll top crust under the bottom crust, sealing the filling inside, and pressing gently with your fingertips. Crimp the edge to give a finished edge, either with your fingers or a fork. Gently slice slits in your top crust to allow steam to escape
Place the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any leaking juices, and slide into preheated oven. Bake 45 - 50 minutes, until crust is golden but not too brown.
Remove to wire rack and allow to cool fully before cutting. Warm pie is delicious, but the juices will not have set and your pie will not slice well. Still good!
Serve with a thin slice of cheddar cheese, custard stirring cream, or ice cream.
- 2-1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 TBS granulated sugar
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter (salted is fine too) cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 stick equals 1/4 pound)
- 1/2 cup rendered leaf lard, very cold/frozen cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup very cold water
- 2 TBS cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup ice
Stir the flour, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and lard piecesand coat with the four mixture. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture, working quickly until mostly pea-sized pieces of butter/lard remain. Be careful to not overland.
Combine the water, cider vinegar, and ice in a measuring cup. Sprinkle 2 TBS of the ice water misture over the flour mixture, then mix and cut it in with a bench scraper (or your hands). Add as needed additional water - this understanding is something you will gain with practice. Go slowly, sprinkling 1/4 - 1/2 tsp at a time, undil the ball of dough has enough moisture to come together into a ball, with some dry bits remaining.
Squeeze and pinch with your fingertips to bring all the dough together, adding small drops of the water mixture if necessary.
Cut the ball in half, shape into two flat disks, wrapping separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably overnight, to give the gluten strands in the flour time to relax, and make the crust roll out more easily.
Wrapped well, your dough can be refrigerated for 3 days, or frozen for 1 month.
If you need some guidance about rolling your dough, this is a very comprehensive video and photo series. Pie is a skill, but it is not rocket science and I have every confidence with a little persistence, pie will become a valuable tool in your weekly menu rotation for pies both celebratory and everyday, sweet and savory.
I make crust as one of my regular morning cooking projects, tucking crust into the freezer for a future day. Making pie is no big deal at all when you break down into two sessions the making of the crust and the making of the pie.
The fat quantities remaing the same for an all butter crust pie - simply use two sticks of butter in place of the butter & lard.
My wild, organic-as-can-be apples, ready for pie
by jackie | Sep 14, 2024 | Beef, Books, Bulls, Buying Beef Better, Cheese, Eating Local, Food, GRASSFED, Gratitude, Heritage Breed, Local Farmers, Meat, Recipes, Summer, Things We Love
Entertaining or Potlucking? Need a late summer dish for a lazy summer afternoon?
Just got the first Auburn Meadow Farm beef back from the processor, and wowza, did I miss it. Rich, beefy, juicy, and so delicious, when a friend gifted me some beautiful jalapenos and home grown garlic, I knew I had to make armadillo eggs. Armadillo Eggs are a Texas variant of jalapeno poppers, and are usually pretty seasoned up with chiles, seasoned sausages, and bacon. But this beef doesn’t need all that help, and the flavor of the cheese, the jalapeno, the lime, garlic and cilantro is to me perfect for a warm late summer day, especially when served alongside the cool buttermilk dressing and splashes of fresh lime.
As with all things Texas, my go-to inspiration is Lisa Fain of Homesick Texan books, blog, and now Substack. Her recipes are solid, I love her stories, and humble appreciation for the vast history of Texas life and food. Check her out, odds are your public library has a copy of one of her books too. Brief and to-the-point, let’s get straight to it…
Assembling Armadillo eggs
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded yellow cheddar cheese
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp cilantro chopped
- 1/8 tsp ground cumin
- 6 medium fresh jalapeños
- 4 pounds ground beef You can also use a combo of ground beef and pork sausage, chorizo would be nice
- 1 fresh lime You can use bottled if you don't have it, but fresh is appreciated
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Mix together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, cilantro, and cumin until well blended. Taste, add salt and adjust seasonings if needed.
Remove the stems from teh jalapeños and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and then cut the sliced jalapeños in half, horizontally. Note to self: wear gloves and do not touch your face or you may be sorry!
Place about a teaspoon of the cream cheese filling in each jalapeño quarter. Take about 1/3 cup of the sausage, pat it into a 3-inch circle and place the stuffed jalapeño in the center of the sausage. Wrap the sausage around the stuffed jalapeño until it’s completely covered, and form into an egg shape.
Place meat-wrapped jalapeños on the sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked. For additional browning on top, you can place the sheet under the broiler for 2-5 minutes. (I like mine as juicy as possible, so I skip this step).
Sprinkle your eggs with lots of fresh lime juice and serve with buttermilk dressing, queso or salsa. I like juicy lime wedges on the side too.
When making this with supermarket beef, I might use a broiler pan wtih a rack to elevate the eggs from the surface of the pan. Supermarket beef won't be dry-aged, so will release more water, and shrink more, and you may get better results lifing the meat so the liquid can drain away.
Armadillo eggs are not worth the making if you don’t also have good buttermilk dressing. Here’s my fave, also Homesick Texan inspired, though lacking the heat. I don’t miss it, tobasco or hot sauce can be added at table for those who like it, and those who don’t will appreciate the cool, flavorful dressing on pretty much everything.
- 1/2 cup prepared mayonnaise I like Hellman's or Duke's. Homemade is nice too, if you're okay with raw eggs
- 1/2 cup thickened Greek yogurt Chobani whole milk Greek style is my favorite
- 1/2 cup buttermilk Marburger's is my go-to, but a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice in whole milk will work too. Allow it to set at room temp to thicken first
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together and let chill for an hour before serving.
Makes one generous cup. Keeps in the fridge for a week, but good luck with that 😀
Armadillo Eggs are an unexpected recipe for a party dish that’s unique, accommodates most non-vegan diets, and stays on the Real Food spectrum, if you’re trying to kick the processed foods. I pretty much guarantee if you’re doing a potluck, you will please most, and copy none.
Beverage-wise, making all-beef Armadillo Eggs as I have here, a crisp, lighter white wine, or pilsner, or lime or lemonade would be my go-to. Mojitos or margaritas are always welcome, the key is light, bright, not too sweet. And, if you’re from Pittsburgh area and would like some Auburn Meadow Farm ground beef for yourself, find the details here.
by jackie | May 17, 2024 | Care of the Soul, Change, CSA Box, Eating Local, Every Single Morsel, Food, Food Shopping, Pantry, Seasonal, Unprocessed
1. Simplify and organize your food hub (kitchen & pantry), and stock it with simple storage/freezer containers sized for your refrigerator size and usual meal size, masking tape, and sharpie for labeling placed within easy reach. Maybe add a radio or speaker so you can listen to books or podcasts as you work and make it an uncluttered, peaceful space so kitchen maintenance will become a meditative time you look forward to instead of a rushed and chaotic chore.
2. Cabbage is your all-season Friend. Cheap, delicious, healthful, fresh in all seasons, and good for so many satisfying preparations.
3. Start a simple kitchen herb garden and/or grow sprouts. Plants are available now from all the best local growers, and you can often buy plants with SNAP benefits. Herbs and spices add up. When you buy fresher foods of more flavorful varieties, you will find you need few expensive spices, marinades and rubs.
4. You paid for it, get your money’s worth! Don’t cut fat from meats before cooking, instead cook, and skim the fat to use for later browning and sautéing. When you buy well raised meat, the nutritional benefits of the meat are also in the fat. There is nothing hydrogenated or highly processed, so it is a nutritional, flavor-enhancing, and budget friendly practice.
5. Select foods for nutrient density instead of portion size or habit. Bone-in skin-on meats, Fruit vs juice, whole grains vs refined flour and processed quick seasoned sides, plain frozen fruit and veg instead of those with added sauces or microveable packages, whole milk dairy vs reduced fat, pastured eggs vs lowest price, local in-season produce and fruits, whole cheese vs pre-shredded, minimally processed vs convenience, more basic staples and less ready-to-cook one-offs.
6. Select whole in-season vegetables grown locally for flavor rather than shipping and shelf stability, with leaves & stems on. Use said leaves and stems right away.
7. Maceration. Harness the natural juices from your fruits and vegetables and your crock pot roasts and stretch the value of the purchase. This works best with local items grown for flavor, as they are the most naturally flavorful and juicy, and that juice has nutritional value. And, if you find yourself with some fruit or produce about to go bad, chop them up, add a bit of sugar or salt, and put them in the fridge to release their juices. Later strain them, and use the juice separately for beverages or to make syrups, and you have bought yourself a little additional time to use the produce.
8. Replace bread, rice, processed side dishes, and pasta with whole grains. Simple farro, pearled barley, wheat, spelt, and rye berries, all can be used in place of rice for risotto, fried rice, and hashes, or as a cold salad, or side dish. Easily batch cooked and frozen for later, or just keep a container in the fridge ready to go.
9. Invest: if you can, level up with even a small additional freezer to enable you more space for buying meat and produce in bulk. Don’t forget to check for Marketplace/Craig’s List used options.
10. Make simple jams and syrups. This is easily done with most fruits and many items of produce and replaces extracts in pies and baked goods, ice cream and dessert garnish, enhancer of purchased sauces, and is a great way to make your own beverages, kicking the soda/Gatorade habit. You don’t have to become a depression-era full time canner, just a little here and there alongside your regular meal prep and cleanup goes far.
Produce season is about to begin – you’ve got this!
by jackie | Dec 23, 2023 | A Day in the Life, Books, Eating Local, Food, Recipes, Seasonal, Things We Love
Solstice traditions and magical tales and rituals come from all corners of the world. I enjoy reading about all of them, but mimicking the rituals of peoples exotic to me feels strange, and does not really feel like a receptive mindset for the significance of an important marker of time in my own real life.
Fire, attention, cleansing, making space, seasonal decoration, silence, spending time with nature, and ritual foods feel more fitting and less forced. Seed cake, while not exactly Yule specific, does feel like a suitable choice for the here and now.
Today, in the US, grocery bakery goods, frozen cakes, and cake mixes with canned frostings are what we imagine for “cake”. Light, fluffy, very sweet, often almost gummy, mostly crowned with sugary vegetable shortening frosting and intense artificial coloring and extracts.
Europe however, has retained more of their historic connections to food, and tends towards more dense, heavy baked goods flavored more often from nature than laboratories. Seed cake is one such cake you will not often find in the US. One reason is because it’s texture is dependent upon a certain inefficient manner of architecting the ingredients. It’s joy, like that of many British and Irish foods, is dependent upon the sheer exceptional quality of the simple ingredients – pastured eggs, homemade butter from the well-fed family cow, and local flour not readily available or “affordable” in modern times.
Expensive and/or unavailable indeed when measured with our American focus on efficiency and productivity. I wonder though, if my ingredients cost more errands and money, yet also are important nutrients in their own right instead of a guilt-inducing dietary derailment of artificial junk guaranteed to make me feel ill, which is more expensive?
I love everything about this cake, though I did dial up the fancy a little by pouring syrup over the hot cake, which makes me love it more, and I enjoy eating it with a schmear of good butter.
It is substantial, filling, and the ingredients are not without calories or fat, but are also nutrient dense. There is sugar, which is always going to be a conundrum, and for which I have no natural solution other than moderation. Since the cake is filling in a nutritionally satisfying way, moderation is naturally easier.
Anyway, this is a really nice tradition to bring into all your winter weeks, not just for Solstice, though in the day, it would be a luxurious choice during months when eggs and butter were scarce. Like now, which is why such cakes in December are so celebratory.
I happen to be rich in pastured eggs at the moment, so, bring on the hobbit-y cakes!
- 3/4 Cup Butter Room Temp
- 3/4 Cup superfine sugar Domino's Golden Cane works well
- 3 Chicken Eggs Pastured if possible
- 1/2 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 2 Cups All purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 TBS milk or water
- 1 TBS caraway seeds optional
Optional Glaze
- 3 TBS Grand Marnier Brandy or whiskey can be substituted
- 2 tsp water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 TBS butter
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease your baking pan with butter and flour.
Sift the flour and baking powder together.
In a separate bowl, using a mixer, whip the butter first, then add the sugar, and continue whipping until light and fluffy. Do not rush this, or combine the steps, it does make a difference to the texture of the finished cake. (In the day this was done by massaging by hand the warmth of your hands creaming the butter faster, and supposedly producing a lighter cake.)
Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract together, and gradually add to the whipped butter and sugar mixture. Mix well.
Gradually fold in the flour, taking care to not over-beat. Darina Allen calls the desired texture “dropping consistency.” It will be heavy and stiff, but should not be crumbly. Gently mix in the caraway seeds. Add the milk, liquor or water only if the batter is too dry.
Fill into the prepared baking pan, do not worry of it is lumpy, it will spread into the pan as the batter warms in the oven.
Bake 50 - 60 minutes, taking care to not overtake, which will toughen the texture. To make the glaze, simply warm the glaze ingredients gently in a saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved- do not boil. Pour over hot cake and let cool in the pan.
Remove from the oven, pour the glaze over the top if using, and allow to cool in the pan.
by jackie | Nov 15, 2021 | Books, CSA Box, DIY, Eating Local, Every Single Morsel, Food, Pantry, Preserving the Harvest, Recipes, Things We Love
How great is it that locally raised mushrooms are a focus of local producers now, and they are easily found at farmer’s markets and as add-ons to CSA shares? Mushrooms are delicate though, and prone to mold, so a method to extend their usefulness helps make the most of your fungi.
I love this little appreciated, kind-of-plain book I picked up long ago, and many of my basic kitchen ways are based upon things I learned here. Sadly out of print, and probably often overlooked in favor of more visually beautiful photo books, but if you are truly wanting to learn some foundational kitchen skills and habits, I highly recommend this one. Available used online, for cheap, so it is a good one when the budget is tight.
In the Light Basics cookbook, Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe for pan-cooked mushrooms gives you dense little chunks of deep, earthy flavor, which works for pretty much all mushroom varieties.
I make this recipe as soon as I get my mushrooms, and save them in a jar to add later to salads, greens, accompany steaks, pizzas, omlettes, saucy meats, pasta. Really, what isn’t made instantly richer and fancier with some herby, garlicky, flavorful chunks of mushrooms cooked in booze?
King Trumpet and Nameko Mushrooms, fresh rosemary, garlic and thyme.
Personally, I can’t resist nicking them straight from the jar, so preserving them is rarely a problem, but if you find yourself with an abundant haul, this recipe is a good way to extend their life – simply put in a sterilized jar and top with olive oil. Make sure your shrooms are submerged – the flavored oil when the mushrooms are finished is a lovely ingredient in its own right, too.
Because the moisture has been released, and there is salt and olive oil, your mushrooms are intensified in flavor and much less vulnerable to mold.
- 1-1/2 pounds mushrooms
- 1/2 tsp salt or to your taste
- 1/2 cup dry white or red wine brandy, or vermouth
- 1-1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 3/4 tsp dried
- 1-1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves or 3/4 tsp crumbled dried
- 1-1/2 TBS olive oil
- 2 - 4 large garlic cloves peeled and minced or pressed
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 TBS chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Trim away the tough stemps of the mushrooms or remove the from portabellos, for regular mushrooms just cut the very ends of the stems off. Rinse briefly in cod water to remove any sand and shake or wipe dry with paper towels. Cut into thick slices, halves, or for sall shrooms, leave whole. If using a clumpy variety like oysters, tear in half or cut away the bottom of the stem and separate.
Heat skillet over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms and salt. Watch carefully, the mushrooms will soon begin to release liquid. Stir and cook until the liquid has evaporated, which can be anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes, depending on the moisture content and type of mushroom. Stir in the wine, thyme, and rosemary. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, until the wine has evaporated, 5 - 10 minutes. Add the olive oil and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic begins to color and the dish smells very fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Season with pepper, stir in the parsley, adjust salt if needed, serve.
