If you’ve ever bought one of those large containers of mushrooms from Costco and wondered what you were going to do with so many mushrooms, look no further. This recipe will use the entire container.
I’m not someone who eats a lot of steak. Not because I don’t like steak. I certainly do. It’s just damn expensive. Especially when your favorite steak – pretty much the only kind of steak you eat – is filet mignon.
But after spending Christmas driving up the 5, spending the night in a hotel in Redding, Calif. and having Carl’s Jr. for dinner (new low), I decided that for the New Year I was going to go all out with an entire “steakhouse” themed meal. I decided this when I put $60 worth of filet mignon in my cart at Costco. Followed by mushrooms and asparagus.
When I’m eating steak at a steakhouse a side of mushrooms is a must. To recreate this at home, I wanted a recipe that used whole mushrooms. Other than that and plenty of butter, I didn’t have any real idea what goes into a side of sautéed mushrooms or what else I wanted to go into my mushroom dish. I was easily able to find plenty of recipes for steakhouse-style mushrooms; all were very similar. Some involved butter; some involved butter and olive oil. Some included garlic or garlic and onions while others didn’t include any. The recipe I decided to model my side dish after, from The Spruce Eats, called for butter, onion, garlic red wine and beef stock. In the end, I realized I had no red wine, I didn’t feel like making any beef stock or broth nor did I have any on hand, and my pan was too small to fit all the mushrooms in one layer, so I had to deeply improvise on the recipe ingredients and steps.
I decided to use the lid to the pan to help shrink the mushrooms so all the ingredients would fit more nicely into the pan. I nixed the beef stock and subbed Marsala wine for red as it was the only suitable substitution I had on hand. So basically I was loosely following the recipe I had chosen: I was using mushrooms, butter, onions and garlic and a pan.
Because I went so rogue with the recipe, I was a bit nervous to serve the mushrooms without first trying them. Dad immediately asked if I had used wine to make the mushrooms but then commented that the mushrooms were amazing. After cutting into one of the mushrooms, I quickly concurred: It was a stroke of genius to use Marsala wine to make these mushrooms. I liked this recipe so much, I have no need to make this recipe again the way it was intended (i.e. with Marsala wine and beef stock).
ingredients.
- 3 T. butter
- 1 ½ lbs cremini mushrooms, including stems, brushed clean and ends trimmed
- 6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- ¼ white or yellow onion, cut into thin slices
- Kosher salt
- ¾ c. Marsala wine
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
directions.
- Melt butter in a large deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms, onions and garlic and stir coating with butter. Generously salt the mushrooms. Cover and cook until mushrooms have shrunk and onion and garlic is soft, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the Marsala wine. Cook until the wine has reduced significantly (by at least half). Taste and season with additional salt and fresh cracked pepper, if desired.
- Serve as a side dish with your favorite steak.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 