A Temple of Female Badassery
It seems apropos that the 1966 Czech surrealist comedy art film Daisies plays in regular rotation on the one blank wall at Amaryllis on Providence’s endearing Westminster Street. The plot centers arou...
From Chefs/co-owners Deanna Marandola and Tracy DeFusco, Amaryllis, Providence
This recipe is a crowd pleaser—perfect for meat eaters and vegetarians alike and a delightful holiday entrée or a comforting winter weeknight dinner. We source our mushrooms from Oak Owl Farms in Seekonk but you can use a blend of supermarket mushrooms—just be sure to mix it up. We like shiitake, lion’s mane and oyster mushroom varieties for their flavor and health benefits. Start by making the dashi mushroom stock to get that umami flavor, but store-bought mushroom or beef stock work fine, too.
Ingredients
Mushrooms
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 pounds mixed mushrooms (we like shitake, lion’s mane and oyster), chopped or shredded
- Kosher salt, preferably Diamond Crystal
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 small sweet onion, diced
- 1 cup red wine
- 3 cups homemade dashi stock (see recipe below) or store-bought mushroom or beef stock
- Several sprigs fresh herbs for seasoning and garnish such as thyme, marjoram, parsley
- 1 tablespoon flour combined with 1 tablespoons softened butter (optional)
Dashi Mushroom Stock
- 8 cups water
- 1 cup dried mushrooms
- 1 small onion, cut in half
- 1 head garlic, smashed
- ¼ cup amino acids
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 piece dried kombu
Polenta
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup water
- ¼ small potato (optional)
- ½ cup stone-ground polenta
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¼ cup parmesan
- 1 tablespoon salt
Preparation
For the Mushroom Dashi Stock, combine all ingredients except for the kombu. Bring to a near boil. Add kombu and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth to remove any dirt from the dried mushrooms, reserving the liquids and discarding the solids. Continue to simmer until reduced by half, approximately 30 minutes.
For the mushrooms, heat 1½ tablespoons each oil and butter in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed deep pan. Add ½ the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until lightly browned. Remove from the pot and set aside. Repeat for the remaining mushrooms and add to the other mushrooms.
In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon each olive oil and butter and cook carrots and onion on low to medium heat adding 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon chopped leaves of fresh herbs. Cook until lightly browned and then add wine and dashi stock.
Bring to a boil and reduce liquid by half, then stir in the mushrooms. Simmer 30 minutes. If the sauce is too thin, combine 1 tablespoon flour with 1 tablespoon butter to form a paste and add to the pot, stirring gently until the liquid thickens.
For the polenta, combine milk and water in a large saucepan. If using potato, grate it into the saucepan and bring liquid to a boil. Turn the heat to low and slowly add polenta while whisking. Continue to cook and stir occasionally and until the polenta is creamy yet has some bite to it. When the polenta is done, stir in butter and parmesan. Cover and keep warm until serving.
To serve, ladle the mushrooms over polenta and garnish with fresh herbs.
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