Wild Mushroom Sauce (plus, how to cook with dried mushrooms)

Before we proceed to the recipe, I’d like to give a shout-out to Marx Foods. You remember from my mushroom pasta post that I no longer have a mushroom hunting spot, and that I tried to substitute dried mushrooms from Costco. DH complained that the mushrooms were a little chewy (although the flavor was awesome). Marx Foods to the rescue!

I read on Foodie Blogroll that Marx wanted bloggers to test their dried mushrooms, so I ordered some (I’m Dutch, I don’t turn down a freebie!) It came with a super handy sheet that explains how to cook with dried mushrooms. I wish I’d had that a few weeks ago! Basically you boil water and cover the mushrooms for 10 minutes, then proceed with the recipe as usual. How do you know how much to use? Get out your calculator and multiply cups by 3, then divide by 9.

So for this recipe, I needed one heaping cup. So I multiplied by 3, then divided by nine, which gave me 1/3 ounces. I decided to use the Dried Northwest Mix Mushroom sample they sent, so I weighed that and it ended up being 1/2 an ounce with the baggie. So I figured I might as well use the whole thing for this recipe – one can never have too many mushrooms. You can read more about cooking with dried mushrooms at www.marxfood.com/mushrooms.

OK, now on to the recipe from Simply in Season

FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION CLICK HERE: Wild Mushroom Sauce

1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup water (I used the water that the mushrooms soaked in)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp pepper
4 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 C water

1. Saute’ the onion in olive oil over medium heat until slightly browned, 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the mushrooms, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Add the soy sauce, thyme, pepper and bring to a boil.

4. Add the cornstarch and stir until thickened, 2 minutes. Add salt if needed, and garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

5. Soup variation: Add 1-2 C broth (or 1/2 evaporated milk) at the end. Cook another 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Servings: 2
The verdict: I served this over rice, and it definitely needed salt. However, the mushroom flavor was great (thanks Marx!) and this would be a great all-purpose sauce recipe for topping steaks, potatoes, or noodles, too.
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/2 of a recipe (4.3 ounces).
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 38.72
Calories From Fat (4%) 1.44
% Daily Value
Total Fat 0.17g <1%
Saturated Fat 0.04g <1%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 93.38mg 4%
Potassium 150.52mg 4%
Total Carbohydrates 8.42g 3%
Fiber 0.92g 4%
Sugar 1.48g
Protein 1.5g 3%