dried porcini mushrooms

Wonderful served as a brunch centerpiece or as a holiday side, this rich vegetarian casserole can be assembled in advance, refrigerated overnight, then baked just before serving. You could certainly prepare it day-of and let the bread soak for 15 minutes before baking, but allowing it to sit overnight will make it more tender. Delicate brioche is the ideal bread for this pudding, and it is available in most supermarkets, often in the form of hamburger rolls, which are a good size and shape for this dish. Challah is also a good option, but it’s a bit denser, so it may take more than 15 minutes for it to soak up the custard.

Mushroom Bread Pudding

porcini mushrooms

olive oil

unsalted butter,

mushrooms,

sage

shallots,

cognac (optional)

kosher salt,

Black pepper

eggs

heavy cream

milk

cayenne

grated Gruyère (about 1 cup)

brioche

Parmesan (about 1/2 cup)

Boil 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. Add the dried porcini mushrooms and soak until softened, about 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mushrooms to a cutting board and finely chop; set aside. Carefully pour remaining mushroom liquid into a large bowl, leaving any grit behind.

In a large (12-inch) skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter over high. Add fresh mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 8 minutes. Lower heat to medium. Add sage, shallots and chopped porcini, and cook, stirring, until shallot is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add cognac, if using, season to taste with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, 1 minute more. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add the leeks and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until wilted, 5 to 7 minutes. Return the mushroom mixture to the pan and stir to combine with the leeks. Remove from heat.

Add eggs to the large bowl with the mushroom liquid, and whisk to blend. Add cream, milk, cayenne, 1½ teaspoons salt and plenty of black pepper. Whisk thoroughly to combine, then add the Gruyère.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with butter, then add about 1/4 of the fresh mushroom mixture and arrange in an even layer. Arrange the bread slices on top in an overlapping pattern. Sprinkle the remaining mushroom mixture over top, tucking it in between the bread slices. Ladle the custard mixture over top, evenly distributing the cheese. Refrigerate, covered, overnight (see Tip). 

When ready to cook, remove the dish from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Top the pudding with Parmesan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until set in the center (it may puff a bit). Run it under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes to brown the top, watching carefully. Let sit 10 minutes, then serve warm, topped with additional sage if desired.

Chicken-Mushroom Burgers

Parmesan (about 1 cup grated)

garlic,

black pepper

salt

boneless, skinless chicken or turkey breasts

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl, and cover with hot water.

Cut Parmesan into chunks; put it in container of food processor with garlic; process until grated (if Parmesan is already grated, just pulse a couple of times).

Add the pepper, salt and chicken or turkey and pulse the machine on and off until the mixture is chopped but not pureed.

Squeeze excess water from mushrooms, but do not wring them completely dry, and add to the machine. Pulse two or three more times, until mixture is more or less combined but, again, not pureed.

Put olive oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet, and turn heat to medium. Wait a couple of minutes, then shape chicken mixture into 8 small burgerlike cakes. Cook 3 minutes a side, or until nicely browned. Do not overcook; when burgers are firm, they are done. Serve hot or at room temperature.

This pilaf scores all the points for being both gluten-free and vegan (provided you use vegetable stock), and for being robust enough for no one to notice. Star anise and cinnamon make this a warming (and winning) combination for a festive Thanksgiving spread, complementing roast turkey and just about any dish that finds its way to your table. It also serves well as a stand-alone main, with some lightly cooked greens to go alongside. Feel free to swap out the fresh mushrooms for whatever foraged finds you can get your hands on, just make sure to break them up into large chunks, keeping intact their natural “meatiness.”

Sweet Spiced Mushroom and Apricot Pilaf

ancho chiles, stems discarded

30 grams dried porcini mushrooms

stock

salt and black pepper

oyster mushrooms, roughly torn into separate stems

portobello

yellow onion, peeled,

dried apricots (the plump orange kind), quartered

garlic cloves,

cinnamon

star anise

scallions, trimmed, then thinly sliced at an angle

Bring a small pot of water to a boil and heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit/230 degrees Celsius.

Add the ancho chile to a heatproof bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover. Let sit to rehydrate, about 20 minutes, then discard the soaking liquid and roughly chop the chile, seeds and all.

Transfer the dried porcini mushrooms to a medium saucepan and add the stock, 1 1/2 cups/360 milliliters water, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and a good grind of pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then set aside.

Add the oyster and portobello mushrooms, onion, apricots, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, chopped ancho chile, 1/2 cup/120 milliliters oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper to a roasting pan (tin) that is about 10-by-13 inches/26-by-34 centimeters. Give everything a good stir, then bake until the vegetables are soft and well browned, 40 to 45 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from the oven, transfer half the mixture to a medium bowl, then arrange the remaining mushrooms in an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle the rice evenly on top of the mushrooms in the pan, without stirring, and set aside.

Bring the porcini mixture back up to a simmer over medium-high heat. Pour the porcini mixture over the rice, again without stirring, and cover the roasting pan tightly with foil. Return to the oven and bake until the rice is cooked through and has started to brown on the bottom of the pan, and the apricots begin to caramelize, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and gently stir everything together.

Add the scallions, parsley and the remaining 2 tablespoons/30 milliliters oil to the bowl with the reserved mushroom mixture; stir to combine. Spoon this over the rice mixture and serve.

This robust Provençal ragout is more of a cool weather recipe than Tuesday’s ragout with peppers and tomatoes.

Artichoke, Mushroom and Potato Ragoût

(about 1 cup) dried porcini mushrooms

lemon,

baby artichokes, or 6 medium or large artichokes

extra virgin olive oil

onion,

garlic cloves, sliced

tomato paste

dry white wine

bay leaf

thyme

Salt

pepper

potatoes,

parsley

Place the mushrooms in a bowl or large Pyrex measuring cup. Bring 2 cups water to a boil, and pour over the mushrooms. Let sit 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the artichokes. If small, cut in half; quarter if large.

Place a strainer lined with cheesecloth or paper towels over a bowl, and drain the mushrooms. Squeeze the mushrooms over the strainer to extract liquid, then rinse in several changes of water to rid them of grit. Set aside. Add enough water to the bowl to make 3 cups of soaking liquid.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy casserole or lidded nonstick skillet. Add the onion, and cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Stir in the garlic and mushrooms, and cook together, stirring, until fragrant, about one minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it darkens and begins to caramelize in three to five minutes.

Drain the artichokes, and add with the potatoes. Stir together for another minute, then stir in the wine. Bring to a boil, and cook until most of the liquid is gone. Add the soaking liquid from the mushrooms, the bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 40 minutes, until the potatoes and artichokes are tender. Uncover, turn up the heat, and reduce the liquid in the pan to thicken. Remove from the heat, taste and adjust salt and pepper. Stir in a teaspoon or more of fresh lemon juice, if desired, and the parsley. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Soup made without meat or meat broth can be insipid. That's why most people think pea soup needs ham and mushroom-barley soup needs beef. But it's possible to make a satisfying, even hearty, vegetarian soup if you choose your ingredients carefully and extract every bit of flavor from them. Enter this mushroom-barley soup, a vegetarian dish with real body, texture and depth of flavor. The key ingredient here is dried porcini, which can be reconstituted in hot water in less than 10 minutes, giving you the best-tasting mushrooms you can find outside the woods and an intensely flavored broth that rivals beef stock. Don’t forget to toast the barley while really browning the mushrooms and carrots — it lends a deep warmth.

Mushroom-Barley Soup

porcini mushrooms (about 1 cup)

carrots,

pearl barley

Salt and pepper

soy sauce

Soak porcini in 3 cups very hot water. Put olive oil in a medium saucepan and turn heat to high. Add shiitakes and carrots, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown. Add barley, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to brown; sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Remove the porcini from their soaking liquid, and reserve liquid. Sort through porcini and discard any hard bits.

Add porcini to pot and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add bay leaf, mushroom soaking water and 3 cups additional water (or stock, if you prefer). Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer; cook until barley is very tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Add soy sauce, and taste. Add salt if necessary and plenty of pepper. Serve hot.

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Mushroom Bread Pudding

Chicken-Mushroom Burgers

Sweet Spiced Mushroom and Apricot P...

Artichoke, Mushroom and Potato Rago...

Mushroom-Barley Soup

Top 5 dried porcini mushrooms recipes from across the web

The most viewed dried porcini mushrooms recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Mushroom Bread Pudding

Chicken-Mushroom Burgers

Sweet Spiced Mushroom and Apricot P...

Artichoke, Mushroom and Potato Rago...

Mushroom-Barley Soup

The most viewed dried porcini mushrooms recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine