Mushrooms! I'm doing a little happy dance in my head just thinking about them. When I was a kid I begged for mushroom soup. When I was in college I made mushroom quesadillas. These days I think I could easily go through a pound of saut?ed mushrooms in one sitting. They're great with steak, still good in a quesadilla, terrific over polenta, or just on their own. Here's the trick with cooking most mushrooms, dry saut? them first. A mycologist friend of mine taught me this trick years ago, with the chanterelles and porcini we had foraged. Saut? the mushrooms first, just on their own, with no added liquid or fat, in a hot pan. The mushrooms will release their water, which will then boil away, concentrating the mushroom flavor. Then you add the fat, and whatever seasonings you want.
In this recipe we are saut?ing button or cremini mushrooms first dry, then with butter, then adding thyme, and some Marsala wine. You could easily use olive oil instead of the butter, and fresh shiitake, porcini, or chanterelles instead of (or in addition to) the button mushrooms. The Marsala is there for the flavor, you could use chicken stock, or white wine, or red wine, or add some sesame oil and mirin for an Asian twist. Instead of the pinch of thyme you could use Herbes de Provence, or Italian seasoning, or finely chopped tarragon.
Do you have a favorite way of preparing mushrooms as a side? If so, please let us know about it in the comments.