Mushroom magic of umami is yours at home

I’m trying darned near everything in the handy-dandy dehydrator I bought this summer and I really am having a good time with it. The tomatoes are simply awesome.

The other day, though, I got a whole lot of the fancy-schmancy mushrooms over at Whole Foods and took them home for the dehydrator treatment. They came out just swell and was putting them into a ziplok bag when it I thought about how good they would be ground up - like a spice or rub - that I could sprinkle on and into foods to enhance that amazing umami experience in addition to just intensifying that ‘mushroomy’ goodness… say in a sauce or gravy. Wow. What about Chicken Cacciatore?

The possibilities seemed endless. And I’d also just bought a jar of Demi-Glace aux Champignons (Mushroom Base) over at Williams-Sonoma. Yes, I know this stuff is horribly pricey, but it really lasts ( a little bit goes a long way) and you just can’t find anything better to add that indescribable depth to soups and such. Better Than Boullion also has one, but they have more sodium and I’m trying to avoid that, and the flavors can be a little off.

Back to my project. Here’s a look at my fragrant trove of dried mushrooms - loose and bagged.

 

And here’s the result after grinding - in a spice grinder:

I simply put the ground mushroom into a glass jar with a tight lid. But I couldn’t leave it there. I had to try it out. Surprised, huh? Snort.

Hmmm. What about some pan seared cod with a mushroom and herb rub, then plated with an awesome sauce piquant made from my homegrown tomatoes - with more mushroom demi-glace and powder? OMG.

Here is where I begin - sauteeing my tomatoes, onions and celery in my own special ‘base’ that I keep in the fridge. It’s a food processor blend of onions, garlic, olive oil, bay leaf and parsley. It’s also Heap Big Fast and Easy Foodie Magic that I will blog about in a separate post.

I let it cook down for about 15 minutes - having added a nice amount of white wine that I was drinking, a tablespoon of anchovy paste, a tablespoon of fish base, a chunk of butter, and about two tablespoons of the powdered mushrooms. I adjusted the salt and pepper, too.

Let me tell you, the sauce piquant was so damn good at this point that had I not already had the defrosted fish sitting there wearing a nice robe of the herbs, olive oil and mushroom powder on, I’d have just spooned this sauce over some pasta, rice or potatoes. It was heavenly.

Next came pan searing the fish in some olive oil - the baked spuds are in there to keep warm.

And the payoff:

You should know that Mr. Maven does not like mushrooms. Not at all. Ever. Right, Ronda?

He LOVED this dish. It was just that good.

See my post about umami - the fifth flavor element and try this at home soon.