Toast: The Fancy Pantry Mushroom Thing

I love everything about mushrooms. I think they are beautiful in their variety, in appearance and in flavor. If you slice them thinly with a sharp knife, the design in cross section is complex and fascinating. They are exotic, but rustic; they taste woodsy, smoky, and earthy, but also sophisticated, delicate, and elusive. Dried or fresh, I never met a mushroom I didn't like.

I thought about calling this post "Mushroom Sandwiches." But it is only incidentally about mushroom sandwiches- though fine sandwiches they are. More truthfully, it is about the mushroom concoction inside the sandwiches . This stuff is good for more than sandwiches. It has, however, an unfortunate name, or rather two alternate , equally clunky names. It is called either "Mushroom Paste" or "Potted Mushrooms", and I think both sound stodgy.

I never would have tried making it myself, except that it is a Helen Witty recipe (from her Fancy Pantry.) Ms. Witty, whose better known Better Than Store Bought is an old favorite of mine, does not often disappoint. And I really do adore mushrooms. I've become very fond of this pantry staple. I did not take its photo, since it looks boring, just a little crock with a topping of clarified butter. But its looks are deceiving.

It is the cooked down essence of nicely seasoned mushroom, almost like a mushroom version of jellied meat juices. It makes fabulous thin tea sandwiches and excellent toasted panini, and also is an aid to pasta sauces and stews. It is lovely melted on hot cooked kasha or barley, especially with carmelized onions. It can be kept in the fridge for three weeks, under its seal of clarified butter, but should be used within a couple of days after the seal is broken. So I put it up in 3 small crocks, rather than one larger one.

I admit it is a bit of a fuss to make, but it is not a tricky fuss, and you wind up with little jars of instant goodness in your larder. (Fridge, really.) You will need to make some clarified butter first. You can make a pound of clarified butter at a time, because it keeps very well. It is nice for sauteeing , because it doesn't burn so fast as ordinary butter. Have I convinced you?

If so, this is what you need:

dried mushrooms 2/3cup
fresh mushrooms 1/2 lb
madiera 2 tbsps
bay leaf 1/4 leaf
shallots 2 sliced
cloves,ground tiny pinch
thyme pinch
allspice pinch
butter, unsalted 1 stick
butter, clarified about 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks)
salt
red pepper flakes (pref aleppo) pinch

This is what you do:

Soak dried mushrooms in water to cover overnight.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Chop fresh mushrooms coarsely. Put them in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Remove to a bowl. Lift dried mushrooms out of liquid and put in food processor with everything but the butters. Carefully pour in soaking liquid, stopping before you get to the powdery dregs. Puree. Add finely chopped fresh mushrooms, and puree thoroughly.

Scrape puree into an oven proof bowl or souffle dish- about 3 cup size. Cover with foil, and top foil with some sort of oven proof lid to keep it in place. Set in a larger baking pan. Pull out oven rack, and place pan on rack. Fill bottom pan with boiling water.

Keep an eye on the water level- don't let it go dry. At 1 1/2 hours, remove lid, stir, replace lid. An hour later, remove lid. cook 1/2 hour more. Remove from oven and place, uncovered on a rack to cool. After 5 minutes, slice your remaining stick of butter into very thin slices, and whisk or stir them into the mix. When all your butter has dissoved into the mix, taste for seasoning and adjust. It should be quite strongly flavoured, so that a little bit makes itself known. Spoon into individual crocks, or leave in larger bowl if preferred.

Cool completely-it will look sort of marbled. Melt clarified butter and pour over the top of mixture, making about a 1/4" layer on top, making sure it is completely covered- all the way to the sides of the crock(s). Cover, and store in fridge. Take out of fridge a little before using, for best spreading consistency. If you need to know how to make clarified butter, don't worry. It's really easy.

clarified butter

Use a small heavy pan, and place it over a very low heat with 4 sticks of butter. Keep an eye on it. In about 25 minutes, the white foam on top will begin to look a bit crusty. You want no browning whatsoever. Carefully skim the white top part off, and save.
Pour clarified butter into a clean dry container, stopping before you get to the dregs on the bottom. Once it begins to congeal, cover and refrigerate.

If you are a frugal sort (I believe it is possible to be both frugal and extravagant), you can use the white top bits and dregs to season mashed potatoes, or veg- it tastes very good, just stir into hot veg before serving.

I hope you will try this mushroom business; I definitely think it's worth the fiddling around. I generally make it from pretty generic fresh and dried mushrooms- if you've got fresh wild mushrooms, you want to have them fresh, for maximum value.

If you think of a worthy name for it- please let me know.