Believe it or not, the first dish I ever cooked myself was sauteed mushrooms with garlic. It was a simple dish with few ingredients, but it can be tricky! The trick is ensuring the mushrooms are dry and have plenty of space to release water so that they get a nice golden char and a delicious bite. Shiitake and cremini mushrooms were cooked with garlic, shallots and thyme and deglazed with white wine. I served it on top of a hearty multigrain toast with a drizzle of olive oil. So delicious!
Cooking Mushrooms
Cooking mushrooms is tricky!! If they are too wet, they release a ton of water, making for slimy ugly mushrooms that you really won’t want to eat. If they are overcrowded with other veggies, they do the exact same thing! My trick was:
- Make sure the mushrooms are completely dry before cooking. Most chefs advocate wiping down the mushrooms with a damp cloth to clean. If you MUST wash it, lay them out on a towel and press out the excess water. Then make sure it is dry before you saute.
- Try to cook the mushrooms first, before other veggies are added, so that it has enough time to release water and get a nice golden char.
These mushrooms are pretty versatile, you can add them to pasta, put them on toast, or eat them as a side dish. I enjoyed them as a lovely crostini on the side of my cauliflower and white bean soup.
For this recipe, I used shiitake and cremini mushrooms, which are hearty and have a bit of a bite, but feel free to use the mushrooms of your choice. When choosing a white wine to cook, steer clear of sweeter wines. I chose Pinot Grigio, which is a neutral white wine with moderate acidity that would reduce quickly.
Mushroom Crostini with Garlic and Thyme
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz container shiitake mushrooms cleaned and sliced
- 1 8 oz container cremini mushrooms sliced, stems removed
- 2 shallots diced
- 4 cloves garlic chopped finely
- 3-4 sprigs thyme
- 1/2 cup white wine
- Multigrain loaf sliced
Instructions
- Before you start, ensure the mushrooms are cleaned and sliced.
- Heat 3-4 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet. Once oil begins to glisten, add the mushrooms
- Cook the mushrooms down until they appear brown on each side. This should only take like 3-4 minutes.
- Once you feel the mushrooms are browned enough, move them aside on the skillet and add the garlic and shallots. You may need to add a bit of oil to cook them until translucent. Add 1-2 tsp salt
- Once garlic and shallots are cooked, mix them in with the rest of the mushrooms so that hte flavor is evenly distributed.
- Add 1/2 cup of a dry white wine and 2-3 sprigs of thyme (removed from the stalk)
- Let the wine deglaze the pan and reduce for a few minutes.
- If you find the mushrooms are releasing water, don't worry! Just make sure to cook down until the liquid is reduced.
- Separately toast some good quality multigrain bread.
- Drizzle the bread with olive oil and top with a tablespoon or 2 of mushrooms.
- Garnish with thyme and season with salt and pepper if desired.
