Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

It’s no secret, we love mushrooms and we love wine, so this is the perfect combination…mushroom red wine sauce.  This is not your typical mushroom sauce with a couple mushrooms in the sauce or using a can of cream of mushroom as a starter, this is a mushroom side dish that we just call a sauce!  This is a nod to our French history and it goes GREAT with steaks or roast beef.  Fresh is best, so try to use fresh mushrooms, though you can complement them with dried that you’ve reconstituted…don’t throw away the liquid you get from the dried mushrooms; that will add nicely into the sauce.  That’s in addition to the fresh, not in place of!  Do not use canned!!!  So is it a “Red Wine Mushroom Sauce” or a “Mushroom Red Wine Sauce”?  Yes it is!   Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

Mushrooms (Cremini or button)	2 to 4 cups, sliced
Dried Mushrooms (porcini, morel or chanterelle or combination)	Optional, one or two packs, rehydrated in 2 cups of hot water.  Reserve the liquid.
Onion	¼ onion, sliced thin
Garlic	4 cloves, smashed and minced
Bordeaux wine (if it’s not good enough to drink, it’s NOT good enough to cook with!)	2 cups
Beef Stock	1 cup
Dijon Mustard1	2 tablespoons
Olive Oil	2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper	½ teaspoon each, more to season to taste to finish.

 

¹Like in our vinaigrettes, we use mustard are an emulsifier in our sauces (thickener)…sometimes in combination with butter and flour.  It adds taste to whatever you’re adding it to, so use a good one.  Our favorite (by far) is Amora from France.  It’s available online, just try not to pay too much.  We get it at: www.thefrenchybee.com or www.lepanierfrancais.com sometimes they go on sale.  Watch out for shipping charges.  Some will offer a discount or free shipped for larger quantities…we buy 12 jars at a time since we use so much of it.

Instructions: 

Step 1:

Over medium high, sauté the mushrooms in the olive oil in a large skillet or sauté pan.  Add the ½ teaspoon of salt and pepper.  Stir to make sure the mushrooms don’t stick, do not cover.  After two to three minutes add the onions. Stir occasionally, but you can cover to help reduce to volume of mushrooms.  Cook for an additional two to three minutes.  At this point, the mushrooms should be half their original volume.  Remove the cover and cook off and liquid that has been released from the mushrooms.  The mushrooms should start to brown.  

Step 2:

Add the garlic and stir (or flip) for about a minute.  Mark sure the garlic doesn’t burn, that will add a harsh taste and will not be good to eat.  Add the wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the beef stock (and if you had dried mushroom, add the reserved liquid from rehydrating them).  Let the mixture simmer until the volume is about half.  This will take about 15 minutes or so.

Step 3:

Once the mixture has reduced, add the mustard to the pan and mix it into the sauce.  Stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens.  If there is too much volume, it may not thicken very quickly, but it should take a minute or two.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Step 4:

Remove from heat and Enjoy! 

Serves about 4 as a side or a bunch as a sauce with over steaks or roast.