Fall activities are in full swing in our house. Our kids are all into something, and life is busy again. Our son is in hockey, our youngest is trying out ringette, and all three are in scouting. Our oldest is still looking for a thing to try, and we are considering martial arts. Classes are in full swing again for us at Athabasca, and life is getting back to a somewhat normal feeling. I’m glad that we developed a meal plan for the week because it is harder for us when we don’t. However, neither of us had a plan tonight, so I stopped at a grocery store after hockey practice and picked up some beautiful steaks. I sent my son to grab some mushrooms so we could make some sautéed mushrooms and grill the steaks!
I fired up the grill, lit the side burner, and grabbed my cast iron pan. After heating it for a few minutes, I melted some butter and added the mushrooms and seasoning. I cooked them for a few minutes and added some Triple Sec to flambe them. All while, I taught our son how to cook the perfect steak.
Mushrooms are one of those foods I have found people either like them or don’t. There is rarely an in-between. For example, our oldest has tried mushrooms many times and still cannot eat them, but the rest of us enjoy them. Raw or sauteed mushrooms can be a delicious addition to your meal. We chose button mushrooms, but there are many mainstream varieties. You might even find some in the forest that are edible, but don’t do this unless you’re sure you know the difference between good mushrooms and dangerous mushrooms. And even then, you’re probably better off just buying them for the effort they take to find and pick.
Interestingly, Mushrooms contain vast nutrition values. I’ve discovered that in 100 grams of mushrooms (brown to be exact), there are 4% carbs, 2% protein, and under 1% of fat, but over 90% of the mushroom is water. There is also a wide range of vitamins and minerals in them and they are of course used widely in Asian and European cooking.
Mushrooms might be in the minority of plants (well, really fungus) that can be poisonous, edible, or psychoactive. Not many foods can use that claim. Since I bought mushrooms from a store, I know they are safe for eating, so let’s get to this week’s recipe!
Sauteed Mushrooms
Ingredients:
¼ butter
1 lb to 1.4 lbs button mushrooms (stems are optional)
2 tsp Steak seasoning
2 oz triple sec (optional)
Directions:
- Most French Chefs will cringe when I say this, and I used to believe it as well, but wash your mushrooms. Rinse them under some cool water and clean off the dirt from them.
- Dry them off.
- Preheat a pan over medium-high heat and add the butter.
- Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and sprinkle on the steak spice.
- Cook the mushrooms stem up until they start to brown on the cap, about 5 minutes.
- Turn them over and cook them for another 5 minutes.
- Once the mushrooms are 90% cooked, add the triple sec.
- If you are flambéing, I recommend you turn off the burner if it’s gas. You’ll want to light the alcohol carefully. This is a suggestion, not a recommendation; if you don’t want to use the triple sec, they will still taste great!
- Serve up your mushrooms, and enjoy!
