Now that Hilary term has finished and most of us have headed home for Easter, it’s the perfect time to relax, rewind, and raid your parents’ kitchens. Mama may have made your favourite for your first night back, but she doesn’t have the time to cook your every meal till May, and learning some new dishes that you can’t make in the average underequipped student kitchen is an excellent method of procrastination. I’d recommend this modern classic while the last of the winter chill is still with us, because, seriously, who has nutmeg in their student flat?
What You Need:
900g mixed mushrooms (e.g. button, chestnut, shiitake if you’re fancy), roughly sliced
10g dried porcini mushrooms
275ml dry white wine (not Tesco’s Own please)
2-3 peeled onions
75g butter
200ml crème fraîche
a large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
Method:
1. Start by heating up the wine in a small saucepan until it just starts to simmer, then take it off the heat and leave the porcini mushrooms in it to soak.
2. Slice the onions as halves and separate the segments into semi-circle strips, and melt 2/3 of the butter in a frying pan (pick one with a lid, but don’t put it on yet). Toss the onions around in it till they soften, then take them out and put them aside in a bowl or plate, making sure to leave as much butter in the pan as you can.
3. Divide the rest of the mushrooms roughly into three groups, and turn the heat up high on the pan. Fry each mushroom group one at a time till they brown, adding them all to the onions as you go. Keep adding butter to the pan as is necessary.
4. Once you’re done, put all these browned mushrooms and soft onions back in the pan. Drain the wine from the saucepan into the frying pan, then chop the porcinis and add them too. Add salt and pepper for seasoning, put the lid on the pan and leave it to gently simmer at a low heat for half an hour.
5. When you come back to it, take it off the heat and add the crème fraîche and nutmeg. Put it back on the heat till it’s hot (but not bubbling!) and serve with plain rice.
