My Culinary Blog

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh moshrooms
2 shallots
2 tblsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tblsp butter
1/2 tsp lemon juice (preferably fresh)

Instructions:

Clean the mushrooms in cold water (Harlod McGee tells us that they do not absorb enough water to be worth the fuss of using a mushroom brush. I agree. Since they are already something like 95% water, even if they absorb a large amount, they will only become … what - 96%?) Cut or pull the stems off of the mushrooms (save them for mushroom soup or a duxell) and slice the caps into 3/16 inch slices.

Finely chop the shallots. If you don’t have shallots, use 3 tbsp chopped onion and 1 small clove of garlic, chopped, minced, diced, pressed, cleavered or otherwise made mushy in your most favorite way. Heat a frying/saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter and let
it melt. When the butter is bubbling, add the mushrooms. Saute, tossing or stirring until the mushrooms start to brown. If a lot of
juice comes out of the mushrooms, simply boil it away and keep on.

As the mushrooms start to brown, add the shallots (or onion and garlic) and the chopped parsley. Finish browning the mushrooms.
Taste the mixture. Sometimes it will improve in flavor with the addition of the lemon juice. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to be needed.
Spoon the sauted mushrooms over warm, buttered toast. If you want to be fancy, cut the crusts off of the bread before you make the toast, cut it diagonally after it is toasted and buttered and call it ‘toast points.’ Sprinkle a little fresh chopped parsley on top of the mushrooms and put a small sprig of parsley on the plate beside.
Another Option: In place of shallots, use about 2 -3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh chives.

Ingredients:

4 oz Oyster mushrooms, rinsed and kept slightly moist
1 1/2 cup safflower oil for frying

Flour mix:

1 tsp nori flakes, pulverized in a coffee grinder or blender
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup unbleached flower
pinch of salt and pepper

Water mix:

1/2 tsp nori flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup water

Bread crumb mix:

2 cups fresh bread crumbs (not dried, no crust)
4 tsp nori flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Thoroughly mix ingredients for each of the three mixes. Heat oil to 350 (I don’t trust my stove, so I got an oil thermometer. He says five mins on med heat) in a wok. Dredge mushrooms in flour mix and shake off excess. Dip mushrooms into water mix and shake off excess. Dredge mushrooms in crumb mix. Fry mushrooms four to five at a time for about 1 1/2 minutes, being careful that the breading doesn’t get beyond golden. Drain mushrooms on a towel covered plate. Allow a minute between batches for oil to re-heat. Mushrooms may be kept warm in a 250 oven.
Serve garnished with fresh lime chunks.

Note:

Although these are deep fried, the mag says they’re only 7g fat per serving, for what that’s worth. These are supposed to resemble fried oysters. I obviously wouldn’t know, but they’re really good, and all the Orthodox people I’ve served them to have like them.

Ingredients:

1 doz. fresh mushrooms (2″ in diameter)
2 cups diced stale bread
1/2 cup grated Parmesean cheese
2 tblsp dried onions
1 tblsp sunflower seeds
1 tblsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
2 tblsp melted butter
1/2 cup dry vermouth
Cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Wipe mushrooms clean, carefully break off and chop stems. Scoop out remaining gills and discard. Combine chopped stems with bread,
Parmesean cheese, onions, sunflower seeds, parsley flakes, lemon pepper, salt, butter, and vermouth. Pack into mushroom caps. Bake in shallow pan with small amount of water for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. Remove and criss-cross each mushroom with slivers of Cheddar cheese, then replace in oven until cheese melts. Makes 6-12 servings.

Ingredients:

1 pound of mushrooms into halves or quarters.
2/3 cup heavy cream. Heat
2 tblsp butter in a deep frying pan.
3-4 chopped garlic cloves
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt

Instructions:

Chop 1 pound of mushrooms into halves or quarters. Heat 2/3 cup heavy cream. Heat 2T butter in a deep frying pan. Add 3-4 chopped garlic cloves to the butter. Add mushrooms and cook for about 2 min, until brown. Add hot cream, salt, 1 tsp pepper, 2 tsp nutmeg. Cook for about 5 more min, then add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. Serve on hot buttered rice or French bread.

Ingredients:

1 # large whole fresh mushrooms
these mushrooms must be absolutely fresh and the caps should
not be separating from the stems.

Instructions:

Brush off mushrooms and slice into 1/4″ slices from the top down, including the stems. With a fine mist spray bottle, mist the mushrooms to just barely dampen. Drop into a paper bag or large ziplock bag that contains 1 or 2 cups of a/p flour. Stir well or shake very gently. Then, let the mushrooms “marinate” for a while in the flour while you prepare to cook them.

In a large, well seasoned cast-iron skillet or a commercial quality nonstick skillet melt 1/2 stick of fresh unsalted butter and ~1/4 cup of
olive oil. Mix the oils well and heat to ~300-325 degrees F. Drop the mushrooms into a colander to remove excess flour. Drop a few
at a time into the butter/oil and coat each well. Continue ’til all the mushrooms are in the skillet. Turn down the heat to the saute level
and continue to cook, turning frequently. After a few minutes add salt and pepper to taste.

Continue to cook until the degree of crispness is achieved. My neighbor used to cook these for a long time, rendering nearly all the moisture out of the mushrooms. The finished product would be the most delicate, and crisp mushrooms used as a side vegetable.

1 12 inch Pizza Dough shell (uncooked)
3/4 cup Crab meat
3/4 cup Tiny shrimp
1/2 cup Crushed pineapple
5 Mushrooms, sliced
4 1/4 oz. Canned sliced black olives
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1 cup Mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup White cheddar cheese grated

Spread pizza dough on to a pizza pan. Top with crab, shrimp, pineapple, mushrooms, olives, green pepper, mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Bake at 450 degrees F. until cheese is bubbly.