Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
I hope you are all having/had a wonderful Thanksgiving, for those who celebrate.

I am grateful for so many things in my life...a wonderful husband, family, friends, a good job, our sweet pets. Mostly I am grateful for my health and freedom. Those two things allow so much else into our lives.

I'd like to share a favorite recipe with you all. Burgandy Mushrooms (the old Steak & Ale recipe). Since they went out of business 4 years ago, and we're not trying to sell it, I don't see a problem. Beside we've made this over and over already and no one's come to take us away. :)


Now, I'm going to give you the "big batch" recipe. This will be good for 8-10 easily. As long as they take a decent portion and not a whole bowlful of it, which can happen since these are so delicious. 

Let's begin:

You'll need a large boiler...like the kind you'd have for lobster or crab night. 
A smaller sauce pan, 2 quarts at least (4 qts will give you alot more breathing room)
a slotted spoon
a strainer
a gravy serving spoon

4 lbs of button mushrooms, or regular sized mushrooms cut so that most all mushrooms are a uniform size
2 sticks butter
3 medium onions
1 jar of Better than Bullion beef stock (not using the whole jar, though)
2-4 tblsp garlic powder
2-4 cups Burgandy wine (the more the better we say)

NOTE: While  you are doing the Burgandy sauce part, deal with the mushrooms. You'll want this all to come together pretty much at the same time.

Cut the ends off the onions and peel them. Cut the onions into large chunks, like 2 vertical and 2 horizontal cuts. Think of it as very largely diced. 

Fill the large stock pot 1/2 to 2/3 full of water. Bring to boil, can leave on Med High heat. While water is heating, rinse the mushrooms to get the debris off. Be quick and don't let it soak up too much of the water. You may cut the mushrooms in large halves or quarters if they are large mushrooms, otherwise you can leave them whole. When water is boiling, add the mushrooms and blanch them. Stir frequently and watch for them to turn a gray color. They should start out white and reduce in size a bit and turn gray. Gray is the magic color. When they are all pretty much gray all over, drain them. Put them back in the boiler.


Our mushrooms are not button sized this time,
so we cut them up.
Put the cut up onions in a 2 quart saucepan. Add the 2 sticks of butter. Put on high heat and boil this down, stirring frequently. You don't need the onions translucent, but getting soft and reduced somewhat. You will have a butter onion soup at this point. 

Add 1 1/2 - 2 large dollops of the Better than Bullion beef stock. We use large soup spoons for our dollops. It's a generous amount. Stir into the butter onion mix well. 

Add the garlic powder. It's really to taste. We personally think there is no such thing as too much garlic, so do  what you like.

Add the Burgandy wine. If you are using a 2 quart saucepan, your saucepan should be almost to the top by now. Stir well and frequently and it won't boil over. Boil this mix for about 10 minutes. The alcohol needs to boil out, just leaving the flavor behind. Otherwise you'll have a bitter taste from the alcohol.
The Burgandy sauce boiling. It's very fragrant.

REMINDER! While  you are doing the Burgandy sauce part, deal with the mushrooms. You'll want this all to come together pretty much at the same time. 

After the alcohol is boiled out of the sauce, pour the whole mixture into the boiler on top of the drained mushrooms. Stir to mix together well. Let sit for a good 1/2 hour for the mixture to blend well and the mushroom to soak up the sauce. Stir occasionally if you want. If you cannot wait that long, it's ok. It's just that the longer it steeps the better it tastes! Can also be refrigerated and reheated later in the microwave.

Enjoy and please do tell me how yours came out! 

Do you have any favorite dishes you like to prepare? Or that are in high demand and you can't arrive to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without it? :)

Ta dah! "Steeping" the mushrooms to soak up the
burgandy sauce.



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