5 recipes for mushroom lovers

by The Flamingo

The mushroom is the favorite veggie in my dishes. I love cooking and all the vegetables hold a special place, more so than meat for sure. In my opinion the mushroom outshines every other veggie. All kinds of mushrooms are flavorful, from the Japanese shiitake and the portobello, to the common chanterelles and champignons. The Flamingo wants to share with you her favorite mushroom recipes, which are easy to prepare and really delicious.

Creamy mushroom risotto

• 400g wild mushrooms (champignons work as well, but it’s not as flavorful)
• 1 cup of risotto rice or wild rice (personally I prefer the latter)
• one onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• ⅓ cup  white wine
• one chunk of butter
• parmesan cheese
• vegetable stock or chicken stock (I prefer to make mine at home, but you can also buy it in the supermarkets)
• the half of one lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper 

Wash all your veggies well and prepare everything you need on the table. Chop the onion and garlic cloves in very small pieces. Chop the mushrooms in big chunks. Warm up the stock in a pot.

Take a deep pan, a ceramic one will be a healthier choice, or a pot and put it on the stove, with high heat at first. Drizzle olive oil when the pan is hot. Add the onion and garlic and let them turn golden. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon for a half of minute, till the rice becomes translucent.

Pour the wine and stir again. Then add the mushrooms on top of the rice  and let them simmer under the cover for a couple of minutes with just a tiny bit of water added so the rice doesn’t stick.

Remove the cover, lower the heat of the stove and slowly add one ladle of your stock, then stir. The key to a perfect al-dente risotto is to stir all the time and slowly add another ladle of stock after the rice absorbs it. So add a ladle at a time until you taste your rice and it is cooked. Be careful not to overcook it. It all depends on your stove and on your pan. No more than a maximum 20 minutes will do, from the time you put the rice in the pan.

Once your rice is cooked through, add the chunk of butter and incorporate it into the mix till it melts. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir. You can close the heat and grate the parmesan cheese over the rice. Take the half of the lemon and squeeze a few drops, just to give a kick to your flavours. Be careful not to squeeze too much, you don’t want a sour risotto. 

The result is a creamy mushroom risotto, which is a wonderful replacement to any meat dish.

Pork stew with mushrooms (or the more dietary option with chicken)

• 400g mushrooms (you can use any type)
• 250g chopped pork meat (any part is fine)
• one smoked sausage
• one onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ of a tomato puree can (it should be one of good quality)
• ⅓ cup of white wine
• one teaspoon sweet paprika powder
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

If you don’t want to have a heart-attack or you watch your figure, then chicken stew is tasty as well. Just replace the pork with 250g of chicken breast and remove the sausage. You can leave the sausage as well, as it gives a smoky flavour, just don’t eat it if it’s not to your taste.

Wash all your vegetables well and chop them, the onion and garlic in small pieces and the mushrooms in big chunks. Prepare your meat as well, cut your pork in small bite sized pieces and the sausage in round ones. 

Take a deep pan and put it on the fire, when hot drizzle a little olive oil. Put the onion in the hot olive oil and let them turn golden. Add the pork and the sausage and stir. Add a little water and keep stirring till they cook thoroughly. It’s OK to let them fry just a little so that it doesn’t taste like boiled meat. Add the mushrooms afterwards and cover the pan.

The water left by the mushrooms should be enough for the stew, so don’t add anymore. The mushrooms cook easily so you don’t need more than five minutes. Stir regularly and put back the cover of the pan. After the mushrooms are cooked add the white wine. Leave it for two minutes and then add the tomato puree and the garlic and stir. After five minutes add the paprika powder, salt and pepper to taste and it’s done.

This dish can be eaten Romanian style, that means with a tasty polenta on the side, or the Italian way with gnocchi (potato dumplings) or in the Swiss style with “Knöpfli” (button sized egg pasta).

Shiitake miso soup (Japanese soup)

• 300g shiitake mushrooms
• white or red miso paste (fermented soy paste)
• 2 spring onions
• dried algae
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• tofu (optionally)

This is a simple dish to make, the tricky part being finding the ingredients. You can find miso paste at big supermarkets in the refrigerator or in the Asian section, as well as dried algae.

Wash your shiitake and slice them. Take a cup and pour water with it in a medium pot, counting at the same time the number of cups it takes to fill it. Add the shiitake to the boiling water and leave them for 5 minutes.

The miso paste is the next step. Remember how many cups of water you poured (for example for 3 cups the right amount of miso paste is 2.5 tablespoons). So be sure to put the right amount of paste in the water and mix well. Leave it for another five minute and meanwhile chop your spring onions into small pieces. Add them to the mix, then the soy sauce and optionally the tofu and stir well. You can remove the pot from the stove and let it chill for a while.

Finally, add the dried algae to taste and the chopped spring onions. If you taste the soup and you find it lacking flavour, you can add as much miso paste as you want, or if the taste is too strong or too salty add boiled water to the soup so you can have it after your own heart.

Oyster mushroom salad (pleurotus salad)

• 400g oyster mushrooms (named also pleurotus)
• 1 cup of apple vinegar
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar 
• salt 
• a few peppercorns

Wash the mushrooms and leave them whole. Take a medium pot and pour two cups of water and one of vinegar. Add the bay leaves, salt and peppercorns and bring everything to a boil. Then add the mushrooms and leave them 15 minutes to cook.

Drain the mushrooms and put them in a bowl, they should cool down to room temperature. Afterwards taste your mushrooms to test their sourness. Sprinkle olive oil on top of them, chop your fresh garlic cloves and add them as well. Mix well and add balsamic vinegar to your taste, depending on how sour they already are. Add a little salt, mix everything together and put your salad in the fridge for a couple of hours so that all the flavours come together. 

You can have the oyster mushroom salad as a side dish to compliment your meat dish, or you can eat it as it is.

Stuffed portobello mushrooms

• 6 portobello mushrooms (big champignons will also do)
• 2 thin smoked turkey sausages (also pork sausages work) – optionally 
• smoked cheese or parmesan
• 2 spring onions
• dill
• parsley
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Wash your portobello carefully, gently remove their stems. Chop the stems in fine bits. Slice the turkey sausage, optionally. This dish is delicious without the meat too. After washing them, chop the dill, parsley and spring onions very finely. Mix in a small bowl the pieces of mushroom stems, slices of sausage, the chopped dill and spring onions, add salt and pepper to taste and grate some of your cheese. Then fill every portobello cap with the mixture. Grate some more cheese on top of the mixture, then prepare a baking tray. Cover it with baking paper and then put your stuffed portobellos on it. Sprinkle olive oil on top and put them in the oven till the mushrooms are baked. 

This is a wonderful dish and so easy to make, with very few ingredients which you can find anywhere.

These are just a few of my mushroom recipes, very easy to prepare, with a minimum of work and time spent. I await your comments with your favorite mushroom dishes and new ideas. Enjoy! 

Photos from Flamingo‘s archive