Sunday, January 23, 2011

Wild Mushroom Obsession

A few weeks ago The Don and I decided to try out a recipe for Wild Mushroom and Carmelized Onion Sheperd's Pie with Mushroom-Pinot Noir Sauce that we found in Vegetarian Times Magazine because we wanted an excuse to buy the amazing mushrooms we see every week at the Foraged and Found booth at the farmers markets around the city. Well, I figured it would be pretty amazing from looking at the ingredients but what I didn't know was that this would literally be the best thing we have ever cooked.
If you love mushrooms as much as me, brace yourself... The recipe called for 3 Portobello caps, 1 1/2 lb wild mushrooms, 1/4 oz dried porcini mushrooms, and 2 1/2 cups homemade mushroom stock (recipe here). We went to the University District farmers market in the morning before cooking began and spent a long time discussing different options for the Wild Mushroom portion of the recipe with Foraged and Found. We ended up deciding on a mix of Hedgehog and Black Trumpet to avoid the excessive moisture that probably would have occurred if we used the Chanterelles that were also snagging our attention at the booth. After picking up all the other ingredients for the pies from different booths around the market we headed home to start this great endeavor.
Although labor intensive, this was such a fun recipe to construct. Each pie was a little work of art. A layer of this mushroom then a layer of that mushroom, all topped by buttery Yukon Gold potatoes and freshly grated Asiago cheese. I am so glad we decided to cook them in small dishes rather than in one large dish. It was so rich that we each ate one dish and were able to give one away to our friend Eric and save two for ourselves to savor throughout the rest of the weekend.
The real star of this recipe ended up being the Pinot Noir sauce. Since making this Shepherd's Pie I have whipped up two more batches of the sauce separately to use on other things. It is so full of flavor and deeply savory.
Well, now that I am revisiting this I am pretty ready to make it again. I wonder if it freezes well. I would love to make a double batch so that I could have them in the freezer waiting for me anytime I get a craving...

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