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Cast-Iron Mushrooms

4.9

(20)

Image may contain Plant Vegetable Food Produce and Fungus
Cast-Iron MushroomsAmanda Marsalis, courtesy of Mark Batty Publisher

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Alex Brown and Evan George's Savory Rolls .

The next best thing to foraging your own wild mushrooms and huffing their death-matter musk from a Hobbitshire-like hillside in NorCal while your guide trips on psilocybin shrooms is (obviously) slurping crispy hot shrooms right out of the cast-iron skillet they were cooked in. Admittedly, it's a distant second. But it still feels nasty. Thanks to the whole steak joint steeze revival, it’s now totally acceptable to eat out of cast-iron. Here we do a mushroom mélange of various shapes, sizes, textures, and prices. Omit and add as you like, especially if you actually get to forage for wild ones.

Cooks' Note

BEVERAGE
Avery The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest Lager

SOUNDTRACK
Shit Robot
"Simple Things"

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 3-4 cups

Ingredients

1/2 pound crimini mushrooms
1/2 pound white button mushrooms
1/2 pound oyster mushrooms
2 king oyster mushrooms
1 portobello mushroom
2 shallots, sliced paper thin
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    1. Place your trusty cast-iron skillet in the middle of your oven and preheat to 500 degrees. This will take thirty minutes.

    Step 2

    2. Prepare the mushrooms. With a damp towel wipe off any dirt. If you must rinse them, do so gently and pat dry.

    Step 3

    3. Create various shroom shapes. Slice crimini and button mushrooms in half. Remove the bottom tuft of the king oyster mushrooms and discard, then slice lengthwise into four or five long pieces before cutting down the middle so you have short rectangles. Rip the oyster mushrooms into halves by hand. Slice the portobello into quarters or eighths as desired.

    Step 4

    4. Remove the pan and add all the mushrooms. Return it to the oven for five minutes. Then remove again, and stir the shrooms so that any sides unexposed to the hot iron can't help getting a good sear. Cook for an additional five minutes.

    Step 5

    5. Remove the pan and add the shallots, butter, and toss. Return to the oven for another five minutes.

    Step 6

    6. Final removal: add the garlic and parsley. Let sizzle in front of your drooling friends for three to five minutes. Salt generously, pepper profusely, and signal the attack.

Reprinted with permission from The Hot Knives Vegetarian Cookbook: Salad Daze by Alex Brown and Evan George, © 2011 Mark Batty Publisher
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