Taming the wild mushroom

By Thayer Wine
Gannett News Service

A mushroom Napoleon is wild mushrooms sauteed in red wine and served on puff pastry. Many kinds of mushrooms are available fresh. Below are a few varieties you can find in O'ahu supermarkets. From left, enoki, cremini and oyster mushrooms. Some are now grown in the Islands. Gannett News Service photos

Don't like the idea of actually putting a fungus in your mouth? Get over it!

Mushrooms aren't evil. They provide interesting and often subtle contributions to so many dishes. With some, it's texture, as they almost taste and feel like meat in the mouth. Others have an earthy flavor. Others are so delicate and fragile they need to be added at the last minute.

With so many restaurant menus and cookbooks using the term "wild mushrooms," perhaps you thought you could never cook them at home without a brave trip to the woods with a mushroom guide at your side.

No fear. Many of the formerly wild mushrooms are cultivated and available fresh in our supermarkets regularly, while many varieties of dried mushrooms are available in small packets near the produce counter. (These generally have to be reconstituted in a hot liquid before using them and will most likely be used in soups and stews, and cooked rice or barley dishes.) Today, though, let's concentrate on all the interesting fresh mushrooms out there.

You'll find the brilliant-yellow oyster mushrooms, and the gray and tan, irregularly shaped maitake mushrooms still in clumps. Cremini and baby bellas will be there, too. Actually, they are both the same mushroom, according to Ruth Lowenberg, spokeswoman for the Mushroom Council. The cremini are usually sold with the caps or veils still closed around the stem, while some of the gills are exposed with the baby bellas.

White mushrooms, cremini, baby bellas and portobellos are thick and sturdy. They can tolerate longer cooking and are wonderful to use in making a soup or sauce or to add to a vegetable stir-fry.

"The difference between the baby bellas and the regular large portobellos is only three or four days of growth," Lowenberg says.

The big portobellos, one of the largest mushrooms in the market, can be up to six inches in diameter. Brushed with a bit of olive oil and herbs and grilled, these friendly giants make wondrous contributions to sandwiches, thanks to their heft and meaty texture. You also can layer them, like lasagna, with sauces and cheeses for hearty vegetarian dishes. They add smoky earthiness to soups, too.

Once, you were able to find only the dried shiitake mushrooms, frequently used in Asian cooking. Now they come loose or in bulk so you can pick out your favorites, or prepackaged. They are delicious in all sorts of stir-fry dishes or soups, or even in a red-wine sauce for a thick, juicy steak.

Most of these mushrooms are interchangeable in many recipes, only the cooking time varies — if they are cooked at all. The delicate enoki mushrooms, with their long, slender white stems and tiny caps, lend an interesting crunch and extra-mild flavor when served raw on salads or as a garnish. They also are beautiful in a clear broth — added at the last minute.

The oyster and maitake mushrooms are best added at the last minute so they do not brown.

Mushrooms lend complexity to range of dishes

This mushroom mixture also can be used as a filling for an omelet or as a sauce with tenderloin or grilled steak.

Mushroom Napoleon

• 1/4 pound frozen puff pastry
• 3/4 pound mixed mushrooms, including shiitake, portobello, oyster and white mushrooms
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup dry red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon
• 3/4 teaspoon tomato paste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon thyme, optional
• tiny pinch of kosher salt, optional
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Thaw puff pastry according to package directions. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place one of the two sheets of pastry from the package on a lightly floured board. (Reserve remaining pastry for another use; may be re-frozen.)

The pastry will be folded in thirds. With a sharp knife, cut one-third of the dough lengthwise following the fold seam. Cut it into four equal sections, about 3 inches wide and 2 to 2 1/2 inches tall. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed. Place pastries on a rack to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare mushrooms: Wipe each clean with a damp paper towel, remove tough stems from the shiitake and portobello. Slice the shiitake crosswise. Remove gills from the portobello with a melon ball cutter, if desired, and cut into half-inch chunks. Slice oyster mushrooms and quarter or slice the white mushrooms. Chop shallots.

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch heavy, nonstick skillet. Add butter and when sizzling subsides, add the portobello, shiitake and white mushrooms, if using. Reserve the oyster mushrooms until later. Stir in the chopped shallots and stir-fry about two minutes. Do not let the shallots brown.

Whisk the tomato paste into the red wine and add about half of the mixture to the mushrooms. Cook over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, about three or four minutes.

Add remaining wine mixture, pepper and thyme, if desired. Sauté until about half the liquid has evaporated. Add the oyster mushrooms, if using, at this point, and cook briefly. Taste and adjust seasoning with a bit of salt, if necessary. Stir in about half the chopped parsley.

To serve, pull cooled puff pastry apart into two pieces. Place the bottom pieces on serving plates, spoon some of the mushroom mixture onto the pastry and plate. Top with other half of pastry, spooning more of the mushroom mixture on top. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon parsley on top and around the plate.

Makes four appetizer servings.

Seared Scallops with Wild Mushrooms and Potatoes

• 2 Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 pound sea scallops
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 pound mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, black trumpet or chanterelle), trimmed and cut into ¥-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs (chives, tarragon, parsley; or just parsley)
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup dry vermouth or white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock

In a sauce pan fitted with a steamer insert, steam the potatoes over several inches of boiling water, covered, over high heat for 10 minutes, or until they are tender but not falling apart. Remove from the steamer and set aside.

Sprinkle the scallops with the salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add one tablespoon of the oil, and when it is hot, sear the scallops for one minute, or until they are golden on one side. Turn them and sear the other side. Transfer to a plate.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining two tablespoons oil. Add the butter, and when it melts, cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for three to five minutes, or until crisp at the edges. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring for two minutes.

Stir in the chopped herbs, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if you like. Transfer the mushrooms and potatoes to a plate.

In the same skillet, cook the shallot over medium heat, stirring, for one minute. Add the vermouth or wine, bring to a boil and reduce the liquid to one tablespoon.

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and reduce to one-half cup. Return the scallops, mushrooms and potatoes to the pan and warm through.

Divide the scallops among four dinner plates, top with the vegetables and serve at once.

Makes four servings.

Source: "The Way We Cook" by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven; Houghton Mifflin, $27.

Mushroom Soup

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 pound mixed firm mushrooms, such as portobello, shiitake and white mushrooms, chopped (about 6 cups chopped mushrooms)
• 1 quart low-sodium, no-fat chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, optional
• freshly ground white pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice or more to taste

For garnish:

• 1 portobello mushroom cap
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• chopped fresh chives

Prepare mushrooms: Wipe each clean with a damp paper towel. Remove gills of the portobello with a melon ball cutter or spoon, if desired. Remove tough stems of the shiitake (if using) and slice. Remove stem from the portobello, peel the cap, if desired, and slice. Cut button mushrooms into quarters, or eighths if large. Slice oyster mushrooms or simply cut them in half.

In heavy four- or five-quart soup pot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in chopped shallots and sauté gently until softened over medium-low heat, about three to five minutes. Do not allow to brown.

Stir in mushrooms and cook gently until mushrooms begin to give off their juice. Continue cooking until most of the moisture has evaporated but the mushrooms are still moist.

Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and simmer about 15 minutes.

Add a ladle full of the broth to the one-half cup of heavy cream and stir mixture into the soup. Puree the soup with a hand-held "stick" blender in the pan, or carefully ladle the soup, about 1 1/2 cups at a time, into a blender and purée. Place puréed soup into a bowl until all of it is puréed, then return to soup pot.

Reheat the soup to simmering; add salt and a few grinds of white pepper to taste. Stir in lemon juice. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to two days. Reheat to serve.

For garnish:

Remove gills from the portobello mushroom cap with a spoon or melon ball cutter and slice cap into one-eighth inch thick slices. Melt the tablespoon of butter in a large, heavy nonstick skillet, add mushroom slices and sauté just until brown on each side.

To serve the soup, ladle into bowls, place sautéed mushroom slices in the center and sprinkle with chopped chives. Makes about four cups.

Source: Developed and tested by Thayer Wine, food editor for the Nashville Tennessean.