I should make this post four on my 'what to do with a glut of seasonal produce' posts!
You cant eat as much fresh mushroom as you can pick ( tell me- im not a huge mushroom fan but put me in a forest with thousands and I'll come home with kilos). So we have eaten them in sauce on pasta, fried on toast, stuffed and baked them, we have frozen some fresh and frozen some whole and dried heaps. What else?...we've still got kilos left (and we're planning on another picking this weekend??)
Enter Antonio Carluccios recipes for Mushroom Extract and Wild Mushroom Duxelle (dook-SEHL). A duxelle is a mixture made from minced or roughly chopped wild mushroom sauteed in butter with shallot, garlic, fresh bread crumb, and herbs. I think the duxelle looks particularly beautiful when made with these red pine mushrooms (saffron milk caps) as the colour contrast with the herb looks incredible. I hope they defrost just like this!
It is excellent to freeze and is used as an addition to soups, stuffings, sauces and to fill tarts and to top pasta. Did i say it freezes well? I cooked up about 4 pan loads of duxelle for the freezer, packed into small containers and we did eat a bit along the way...
The extract was simple. Cover chopped mushrooms with water. Bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and add bay leaves, pepper corns, dried porcini, a splash of soy/sherry and cook for 40 min. Strain and squeeze solids, return liquid to pan and and reduce further until liquid is 1/2 to 3/4 in volume. Viola. Bottle. This will keep in the fridge for a while ( how long? im not sure) and can be frozen. I will use this for soups, sauces, stuffed mushroom, anything where i would add stock, actually Im chucking it around the kitchen a fair bit, anywhere i can. It can also be used as a condiment .
That might be my bloomin' lot.
* unless someone can tell me what else to do with a mushroom to preserve it other than pickling them!
8 comments:
mmmm, food envy over here!
Mushroom paste.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s1923590.htm
Quite a bit like duxelle, but pastier and then stored in jars, with a layer of oil to cover the paste.
Absolutely love the picture!!
Thanks for the extract instructions. :)
Drool. Jealous. Again.
rixa- yes B/F mothers need extra goodness, often! *sending mushy vibes your way*
veggie- thansk for the recipe, i think i meant it when i asked...the pic, its a beauty isnt it?
Julie-found your local pine forest yet??/- google earth it!
Bring on the preserved shroom
recipes - we're finding a ton of
big ones in the parklands at
the moment. By the way I just
read your kale post (our ancient
computer was playing up for a few
days) - mine are being decimated
too. What have you done?
barbara- yay! free mushies- are you picking field mushies? and re. the kale. im picking the green buggers off and i will net (thanks veggie). are yours being eaten by these 'pillers or something else?
Hi Kel- My in-law said that for best results you need to slice the mushrooms and freeze them in trays, then bag them and leave them frozen till you need them- if frozen whole they get a bit mushy...
thanks annuska. i will do that! great handy hint from Germany. i love blogging!
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