I've never cooked mushrooms before. In fact, only in the past year or so have I even started eating mushrooms. Melting Pot stuffed mushroom caps, then Bonefish Grill's chicken marsala, then Madame Georgescu made the best little mushroom caps with some kind of Italian cheese in them, and Noodles & Company has great mushrooms in their Japanese pan noodles. So it turns out I quite like them. Tonight, I cooked them. And got them drunk.
This is one of those times where I used logic and experience and my own tastes to figure out how to make dinner, so the recipe is less-than-conventionally written.
Drunk Mushrooms
Ingredients
Mushrooms (I used three or four mid-sized button mushrooms)
Butter (I used about a Tbsp)
Garlic (I used somewhere between 1 and 2 tsp of the pre-minced stuff)
Wine (I used the cheap tiny carton of Pinot Noir from Target, probably 1/4 cup?)
Equipment
Pan, stove, stirring spoon
Instructions
Chop up your mushrooms. Don't worry if you have no idea how to cut mushrooms; I didn't. Just try to make even-sized pieces and you'll be fine.
Put your butter in your pan on medium heat. When the butter is melting, add the garlic and stir everything around to make things even.
When the butter is all melted, add the mushrooms. Stir them around to make them buttery.
Leave it alone for a while (I was cooking another recipe so I didn't mess with them much) and inhale the delicious odor emanating from your pan. I mean, yum, right?
Once the mushrooms are getting tenderer (poke them with a fork... I probably waited about 5-7 minutes?) add the wine.
Wait for about half of it to evaporate (stir occasionally) and then put your mushrooms on whatever you want (I used garlic mashed potatoes). Devour.
Yields
Well, that's up to you, isn't it? I'm categorizing this one as "scalable" since it's easier to make more or less. I made it for one person; you could easily make it for eight.
Total time
This one's tough, as I made about four different things in the kitchen tonight and didn't really watch the clock as much as I watched the food. I would estimate fifteen minutes.
Cleanup rating 2/5
The only reason this isn't a 1 is because you have to clean a pan. Also, you're working with red wine, so if you spill any, that will be difficult to clean, and there are little bits of mushroom and garlic that can get all over the place if you're reckless.
Difficulty rating 6/10
Cutting button mushrooms? Not super easy. They're round and have a weird texture and getting even pieces was a little difficult. Then again, this is the first time I've ever cut mushrooms. Also, you can get them pre-sliced if you're so inclined. You have to kind of know what you're doing here, though. Mushrooms feel almost tender when they're raw, so you have to pay attention to get your timing right. And don't burn the garlic. And don't add too much wine. And don't crowd the mushrooms. (Seriously, let them breathe in the pan. If you have too many mushrooms, use a bigger pan.)
Flavor rating 8/10
I think I can improve on this. I didn't really know how they'd turn out, so I was hesitant to season them, so maybe I'll experiment with some of that. But if you can manage to make these, you can probably guess at some kind of seasoning you might like with them. I've seen similar recipes mention rosemary, so that might be a good jumping-off point. But I loved these as they were, with my mashed potatoes and peas. Delicious.
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