Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom Sauce

The "Mushroom Sauce" (page 546) is well worth the effort of buying, cleaning, and slicing fresh mushrooms.  Slightly thick, and long on flavor, this sauce was delicious served over My Kinda Meat Loaf (see review above) and roasted fingerling potatoes, and I can imagine it would add richness and flavor to anything it was spooned over.  I used Baby Bella mushrooms (baby portobellos) and even though they were already sliced, they were very thick, so I took a few minutes to slice them down even further. 

The recipe instructs you to sauté the shallots in oil for 5 minutes, and then add the mushrooms for 2 minutes more.  Instead, I put the shallots, mushrooms, and a tablespoon of broth in a small skillet, covered it over medium heat, and let the mushrooms "sweat" until cooked through and all the liquid had diminished. I chose to prepare the rest of the sauce in a separate sauce pan and add the sautéed veggies afterwards, as I have better luck achieving a smoother sauce if there is nothing but liquid to thicken up.  This worked out well, although it did introduce an additional pan into the equation.