Our long-standing love of mushrooms became even more intense when Ben Cramer opened Low Country Mushrooms on John's Island. The ability to find fresh portabellas, shiitakes and now even oyster mushrooms daily at the local stores and restaurants has increased our consumption. Ben grows 700-900 lbs. of shiitakes and 200 lbs. of oysters weekly and has an agreement with a mushroom grower in Pennsylvania who supplies Ben with 150 cases of portabellas weekly. If your experience with mushrooms has been limited to the small white ones traditionally found in the produce section, give some of the more exotic mushrooms a try. The flavors are wonderful and in many cases, they make a good meat substitute.
The Mushroom Pie recipe is taken from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant (Simon and Schuster/Fireside, 1990), and is an excellent example of the increased flavor you can expect when combining several varieties of mushrooms. The first time we made this recipe, we only had 5 or 6 cups of mushrooms. As far as we could determine, it had no impact on the recipe. The stroganoff recipe is one we concocted when we had an abundance of portabellas and no ideas for dinner. It has become a favorite of ours for a quick meal, as well as a permanent replacement for the more traditional recipe. We've also included an easy side dish and a mushroom butter which, as with herb butters, is excellent over grilled fish, meat or poultry. One thing to keep in mind, if you plan to store mushrooms for several days, do not leave them in a plastic bag. Mushrooms keep best refrigerated either in a paper bag, or an open container lined with paper towels.
Ingredients for Filling:
Crust Ingredients:
Glaze:
To make filling, saute onions in butter in a large skillet. When the onions are soft and translucent, add mushrooms and saute for a few minutes until the mushrooms release their juices. Add the pepper and the cream cheese which has been cut into small chunks. Stir cheese into mushrooms until it melts. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For the crust, combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter just enough to achieve an evenly textured, crumbly mix. Stir in sour cream to form a soft dough. Generously dust the dough with flour and form it into a ball. On a heavily floured board, roll out 2/3 of dough to fit a 10" pie pan. Fit into pan and trim the edges. Add the mushroom filling. Roll out the remaining dough for top crust* (about 1/4" thick). Place over filling and pinch to seal.
For the glaze, beat the egg and milk. With a pastry brush, thoroughly coat the pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes until the crust is puffy and golden brown.**8 generous servings.
*The recipe calls for cutting the dough into 1" wide strips and weaving the strips to form a lattice. The ends of the lattice are folded under the edge of the bottom crust, pinched together and fluted. We skipped this step and produced a traditional top crust with "V" shaped vents cut into it.
**After about 15-20 minutes the edges of the crust appeared to be browning too quickly so we covered them with strips of foil for the remainder of the cooking time.
Ingredients:
In large skillet over low heat, saute onion in butter until soft. Raise heat to medium high, add mushrooms and continue to saute until mushrooms begin to brown. Remove mushroom/onion mixture to bowl. In same skillet, over high heat, add chicken broth to pan drippings, bring to a boil and reduce by 1/3. Lower heat to a simmer and return mushrooms to broth. In small bowl, combine sour cream and flour until smooth. Over very low heat, stir in sour cream mixture and continue stirring until sauce thickens. Serve immediately over noodles and garnish with chopped parsley. 3-4 servings.
Ingredients:
Heat butter and oil in large skillet, add mushrooms and shallots and saute for 3-5 minutes over medium high heat. Add garlic and breadcrumbs and shake skillet until crumbs completely coat mushrooms. Continue shaking skillet for 2-3 minutes. Season with pepper and serve immediately. 4 servings.
Ingredients:
Chop mushrooms in food processor. In large skillet, melt 2 TBS butter over medium high heat and add mushrooms. Cook for 5-8 minutes, or until liquid evaporates. Cool completely. In medium mixing bowl, whisk 1/4 lb butter until slightly whipped. Add the cooled mushrooms and season with pepper. Blend well. Refrigerate or freeze in air-tight container. If frozen, bring to room temperature before using. To freeze, place generous tablespoons of butter on cookie sheet. When frozen, transfer to freezer container. Makes 1 cup.
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