Mushroom Sauce using Dried Mushrooms

• Mushroom sauce must be my favourite sauce.
• I posted a long post with two versions of  mushroom sauce over a year ago.
• As I have been posting lots of sauce recipes lately I thought I would re-visit mushroom sauce and have split the old post into two.
• I looked through my Polish cookbooks and many of the mushroom sauces are made with only dried mushrooms.
• These are delicious and have a strong flavour however it works out very expensive and are not available everywhere.
• Dried & fresh mushrooms are used in this recipe.
• The best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik or prawdzik (translates as the “the real thing”), in Italy porcini.
• I recently got some other dried mushroom which are also good.

Podgrzybki – Xerocomus badius

Mushroom sauce 

Ingredients

• 150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
• 5g of  dried mushroom (around 3 slices)
• 500ml hot boiling water
• 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 2 large tablespoons of soured cream
• Butter to cook the mushrooms in
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method

• You need to start this sauce the night before or in the morning for use in the evening.
• Cover the dried mushrooms with 500ml of boiling water and leave to soak.
• The following day take out the reconstituted mushrooms and using a knife you can chop then up into tiny pieces or if the are soft enough you can  spread out the pulp on a chopping board.
• Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
• Add the dried mushroom pulp and the liquor in which they were seeped.
• Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.

• In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
• Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix well in.

Note

None of these amounts are exact – they are a rough guide depending on what you have – you can use more water, milk or soured cream and so on.

Super served with boiled or creamy mashed potatoes – sprinkle chopped dill or parsley over them before serving.

Served on Burgundy (1959 – 1981) and Carnation (1982 – 1998)  by Royal Doulton.