Friday, June 09, 2006

Mushroom Sauce Continued

Okay, this is the first time I've tried making a cream-y mushroom sauce and here's how I did it (improvements will be made to perfect it)

Ingredients
White button mushrooms
A Big Handful of dried mushrooms (I dont know what kind they are, I got them from an asian market and there's not a word of english on them. I said it was a rough-draft recipe, haha).
Olive oil
about 4-5 oz of tofu
Shallots
Chives to top it off

Directions
Chop up shallots and fresh white mushrooms (an egg slicer cuts them into uniform piece but a knife works just as well).
Put them into a sauce pan to brown with the olive oil. (med-high heat) Remember to stir frequently.
While that is browning, place dried mushrooms into warm water (or you can put them in cold water and put the bowl in the microwave for a minute or two).
Let the mushrooms soak for about 5 minutes (until they are soft)




Add the now rehydrated mushrooms with the water into your sauce pan.
This sort of 'deglazes' the pan and gets all the yummy brown bits at the bottom into your sauce (scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to make sure you get it all)
Add 1 tablespoon of flower (as a thickener) and stir to prevent the flower from clumping.
Let the whole mixture reduce down for about 10-15 mins (concentrates the mushroomy flavors mmmm)
While it's reducing, place your tofu into a blender or food processor and blend till smooth and creamy.
Add the creamy tofu to your sauce pan and let cook another 5 mins.
Now toss in some pasta and throw the chives on top!

(ps don't forget to add any salt or pepper you may want durring your cooking process- personally I add a lot of black pepper b/c a black pepper-y mushroom sauce sounds good to me!)


This first batch of sauce came out a little dry but I think I added too much pasta to it. If your sauce isn't liquid-y enough I think I'd either try adding a splash of UNSWEETENED soy milk to it or some more water.

There you have it
A rough-draft of a recipe : )

Hope it works out well. I'm hoping to make it even better (maybe add some rosemary or something??)

7 comments:

KleoPatra said...

Mushroom homes! What a great site. I need one of those abodes! Great find, Teddy. I loooooooove mushrooms. More, please!!

Carrie™ said...

OK, that house is adorable. I could so live in a mushroom house.
It made me think of a restaurant that used to be in Moncton, NB. I would go visit my grandparents in the summer and there was, what I thought at the time, the coolest restaurant that looked like a spaceship (similar in shape to the mushroom house). They were a pizza joint of all things. I never did eat there. Hmm, I wonder if it still exists?

Kuntal Joisher said...

well I love mushrooms.. but I just found out that I have an allergy for mushrooms :-( .. so I'm avoiding them altogether..

t. said...

I want to live in that house. No, actually I want to become a Smurf and THEN live in a mushroom house!
What a dream!

Teddy, email us for recipes!!! We would be really happy to post them! Especially if they are soooo yummy!!!

kaivegan said...

Teddy, thanks for posting this.

Rosemary sounds like a good idea with it too.

MeloMeals said...

Yum! Sounds like a stroganoff type of thing. I make a sauce very similar with both tofu and if I'm not caring that much about calories I used cashews. Fresh thyme is also really goodn with this sort of sauce.

Isn't tofu amazing? I love being able to turn it into so many delicious, healthy recipes.

funwithyourfood said...

Haha I should have labeled this post the Marketing for Mushroom houses post! Looks like everyone wants one hehe

Mc Seitan- no mushrooms? that stinks. I wonder if some are okay to eat and some arent

Kai-
: ) anytime

melody-
thyme does sound good for this. Thanks for comming by. great feedback.


Teddy