Duxelles [dook-SEHL, deu-SEHL]
n. A thick mixture of minced mushrooms and shallots slowly cooked with butter and herbs, used for flavoring soups and sauces and for fillings.
This admittedly unphotogenic mushroom mixture is a deceptively simple way to add rich, intense flavor to many dishes, and it's easy to make ahead and have on hand for quick appetizers. Wrap a teaspoonful in puff pastry and bake, or stuff into chicken breasts. Use as a base for a delicious creamy pasta sauce, or slather over lamb chops before roasting. The recipe below will make enough to freeze; slice up the frozen bars as needed. You can also freeze it in ice cube trays.
Recipe below...
Duxelles
1 pound assorted mushrooms
4 shallots
2 cloves garlic
6 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
3 tbsp vermouth or white wine
1/3 cup cream
Rinse the mushrooms and squeeze as much water out of them as possible with a towel. Mince the mushrooms very fine, or put them through a food processor. Mince the shallots and garlic.
Melt the butter in a heavy pan over medium heat until transparent. Add the shallots and garlic and fry over low heat, stirring, until they are soft and golden. Add the mushrooms and cook slowly on low for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until any water has evaporated and they have turned brown.
Add the salt, some peppper and the parsley. Add the vermouth and cream and stir until the mixture is bound together.
Remove from the heat and let cool, then form into a bar on a sheet of plastic wrap and seal securely. Wrap the bar in foil and store in the freezer for up to three months.
whoa, that's like, a gift from heaven!
I love the flavor mushrooms bring to a dish, but some how I've never even seen mention of this
brava!
I good way to clean mushrooms for use in such a dish is to wipe them clean with a damp cloth. This prevents them from soaking up water (which would turn any cooking process into steaming).
actually, alton brown proved on his show that the amount of water mushrooms absorb is actually almost none and that it's an old wives tale
Any suggestion on what kind of mushrooms work best?
Chris - I used a mixture of cremini, plain white button, and a small amount of shiitake. The shiitake stems give a slight toughness to the texture in spots, but the flavor is so good. I think pretty much any mushrooms would do...
The recent issue of COOKS ILLUSTRATED has a mushroom lasagna recipe that uses DUXELLES to augment the shroomy flavor.
In this recipe, they said that plain-ole mushrooms would work fine for the DUXELLES.