Mushrooms are often used to flavor other foods. They’re also delicious on their own. This simple dish, mushrooms provencale, only takes about 10 minutes to cook, plus the time to slice mushrooms and chop parsley and a little garlic.
The portions are also really easy to scale for a crowd. I have slightly modified the recipe from Cuisine of the Sun by Mireille Johnston, an underappreciated French-American cooking author.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs mushrooms
- 3/4 cup (approx) chopped Italian parsley
- 3/4 cup (approx) bread crumbs (preferably homemade)
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced or diced
- 1 tbsp butter
- olive oil
Remove the stems from the mushrooms. I usually discard them; it’s also possible to finely dice and include them. Slice the mushrooms.
An easy way to get bread crumbs is to buy crostinis (toasted baguette slices) from the local supermarket and to crush them on a cutting board using a bowl or similar implement to roll around over them. It’s also easy to slice a baguette, slice and very lightly toast them on a baking tray in the oven, and then to proceed as above.
Put the butter and enough olive oil to leave a very shallow puddle in the bottom of a skillet large enough to hold all of the mushrooms. Mirielle suggests 1/2 cup; I usually use significantly less. Warm the pan over low-medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the garlic and let it lightly sizzle for a minute or two (it should not brown). Add the mushrooms. Add about a quarter cup of water and cover the saucepan. Cook about 3 minutes, then open and stir thoroughly. Cover again and cook for another 3 minutes or so, or until the the mushrooms are about halfway to being as soft as you’d like them to be when you eat them (try one). Watch to make sure the heat is high enough to continue cooking but not so high that the bottom mushrooms will burn. Add the parsley. Cover and cook over low heat (enough to steam) for another 3 minutes. Add the bread crumbs. Reheat until it’s steaming again and stir.
This should serve about 6 people as a small serving side dish. 2 lbs sounds like a lot but mushrooms cook down a lot as they release moisture.
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