Playing with kitchen tools and the easiest and best mushrooms ever

Can you call out a dish that you’ve only made once to the best ever? I really don’t hesitate doing so, so let me introduce you to the easiest and best mushrooms ever.

>>

It was my birthday a few weeks ago. I got lots of congratulations from all parts of the world, brought a treat to the office as that’s a typical Dutch thing to do and Mr. Eats took me to a fancy restaurant where we had the most fun waitress.
And last week I celebrated again when suddenly a wood-pellet grill was delivered. It was Mr. Eats‘ surprise birthday gift for me.

You must know, we Dutch have a totally different barbecue tradition. For the longest time, most of us used an open grill on which you only can cook small food items. Black on the outside, raw on the inside is a huge risk there.
Then the domes introduced us to indirect grilling. For our tiny balcony, Mr. Eats discovered the Cobb, which is a portable, small African fuel-saving, isolated charcoal grill that I love (and I’m not the only one). I even used it indoors underneath the hood one day.

But now I feel like a real American!

With my wood-pellet grill! It slowly brings wood-pellets into the barbecue and via electricity it makes sure you have a constant temperature in it. Best of both worlds: your food got that great  smokey flavor, but you don’t have to worry about the temperature. Not at all.

(Okay, so far I’ve noticed the temperature is a bit rocky, but I need more experiments to be sure. Yeah to playing with food!)

We installed it the same night, I read the manual the next day and last weekend we got it smoking. Big meats, of course. I made tri-tip in a spicy whisky rub and honey mustard baby back ribs in orange butter (picture!). And am still using the left-overs in all kinds of dishes this week.

But I also saved some room for bake-off baguette. And for veggies of course. The tip to soak the (already cleaned) corn cobs in boiling water for an hour helped getting them crispy and nicely charred. But it were the easiest best mushrooms ever that stole the show.

And you don’t need a wood-pellet grill, any closed grill will work. So does your good ol’ oven. Or the stove even. Because there is only one, but very important thing you need to know about frying mushrooms.

Yep, I’m about to reveal one of my cooking tricks.

Recipe Best Mushroom ever. Recipe and CRIMINI MUSHROOMS illustration by EDIE EATS by Edith Dourleijn

Easiest and best Mushrooms ever, from the wood-pellet grill (or another cooking device)

I like my mushrooms to nicely browned, but still with a bite. Soft, overcooked and completely shrunk mushrooms are not my style. So I always tell my students to fry mushrooms over high heat. Don’t overcrowd the pan (not to drop down the temperature too much) and use butter for flavor. If you have a bigger cast-iron pan, you can fry more mushrooms. Do it in portions, if you have a smaller pan. 

I used:
a cast iron pan (10 inch)
a grill
8 oz crimini mushrooms
2-3 T butter
salt + pepper

I did:
Heat up your cast iron pan. Either on the stove, in your oven, but for that smokey flavor preferably in your (hot!) grill. It should get really hot.

Clean and chop the mushrooms into smaller pieces. Depending on the size of the mushrooms, I quarter them or chop them into 6-8 pieces.

Fry the mushrooms. Add both butter and mushrooms in the pan. Careful! Stir quickly and close the grill. Let them cook for at least 10 minutes. Check done-ness and consistency. Take them out or cook them a bit longer. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy over freshly baked (off) baguette.

Oh, and all this applies to all kinds of mushrooms!

.

Did you like this recipe? Why don’t try out my other recipes with mushrooms? Or have a look at the list with all my recipes!

.

One Reply to “Playing with kitchen tools and the easiest and best mushrooms ever

Join the cooking!