A Couple of Old Favorites (Part 1): Sauteed Mushrooms

Ciao a Tutti!!

My super awesome hubby (cape and all) made dinner tonight so I get to catch up on a little back-log of recipes I need to post.  So here are a couple of my 'pre-paleo' favorite sides: Sauteed Mushrooms and Roasted Vegetables.

Sauteed Mushrooms

These sauteed mushrooms are an adaptation from the recipe "Champignons Sautes au Beurre" by the brilliant Ms. Julia Child published in her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."  As an aside, this cookbook is a veritable treasure-trove of amazing recipes; highly recommended for so many reasons!

I promise you, this recipe is so good you will want to eat the mushrooms on their own and/or will find yourself wanting to add them to all kinds of other dishes.  Ms. Child adds the following advice: "Successfully sauteed mushrooms are lightly browned and exude none of their juice while they are being cooked; to acheive this the mushrooms must be dry, the butter [fat and oil] very hot, and the mushrooms must not be crowded in the pan."  My permutation:

Ingredients:

1 Tbs of pasture-raised pork fat
3-4 Tbs of olive oil
1 lb fresh mushrooms (white, button, baby bella, whatever your heart desires) washed and left whole if small or sliced or quartered if large
Optional: 1 to 2 Tbs minced shallots or green onions
sea salt and fresh pepper to taste

Heat a heavy-bottomed pan or skillet over high heat with the fat and oil until it has come to temperature (about 1 - 2 minutes).  Add the mushrooms and toss and shake the pan for 4 - 5 minutes until the mushrooms are all well coated and they start to absorb the fat.  In 2 to 3 minutes the fat will appear on their surface and the mushrooms will begin to brown.  As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat.  If you want to add shallots/green onions, toss them in with the mushrooms when you have about 2 minutes left and saute with the mushrooms over moderate heat.

Enjoy!!!

Next post: A DEE-LICIOUS roasting of some wonderful veggies as prepared by my incredible mother-in-law (and nutrition guru of 25+ years), Toni.  Seriously, I don't know how this woman does it.  And her food is amazing!

Happy Living!!