Mushroom and Herb Polenta

I love cooking with mushrooms. Insert whichever hallucinogenic innuendos your heart desires <<here>>. ^_^ Mushrooms are subtle, and are a bit like tofu or cauliflower in that you have some responsibility or opportunity as a cook to enhance them with other flavours. I really enjoy trying new kinds of mushrooms because they encompass such a variety of flavours and textures... One of my absolute favourite experiences of my life so far was an afternoon spent with Renaud and his friend Marie in a forest just outside Marie's village (founded before my country achieved Confederation) in southern France. The entire afternoon was whiled away wandering around with a woven basket and a small knife, mushroom hunting. I found a lovely mess of black trumpet-looking mushrooms and a few of these delicate-stemmed pale lavender ones that my hosts seemed thrilled to see. I also learned what a wild boar wallow looked like, which is also useful, if not quite edible in the immediate sense. I don't remember what exactly we ate that night, other than it involved some of the mushrooms, a fabulous cheese, some kind of bread, and fresh herbs from the kitchen garden. I still delight in the memories of that kitchen garden... Anyway, that meal I made last night seems similar to the one we feasted on after that afternoon in the forest, if my hazy, happy memories serve me right. It's a simple and very quick meal - I am certain it was together in roughly 15 minutes.

I recommend that you use as much of a variety of mushrooms as you can find for this recipe. I chose one of those mixed packs from the supermarket that contained white button, crimini (brown), shiitake, oyster, and huge portobello mushrooms. I had intended to rehydrate some of the dried porcini mushrooms I have to add to the mix as well, but I was hungry and decided to forgo that step in favour of eating that much more quickly. I also recommend instant polenta as a time saving option - it takes about 5 minutes compared to traditional polenta's 50 minute cook time. I doubled the amount of the polenta in this recipe so I had the option of having it in the runny, mash state this recipe calls for and then having the leftovers set up so I could cut them into chunks for snacking on. Yotam says in the intro notes to this recipe that his father would cut the set polenta into chunks, fry them in a little bit of olive oil, and then serve them in a chunky salad of tomato, cucumber, and romaine lettuce dressed with a bit of red wine vinegar and some olive oil. Sounds good to me. As usual, all ingredients are as listed in the book and the recipe instructions incorporate my observations and alterations.

Mushroom and Herb Polenta
(p. 264, Plenty)

Serves 2

4 tbsp olive oil
4 cups mixed mushrooms, very large ones halved
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp truffle oil
salt and black pepper
2 1/4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup polenta (instant or traditional)
3 oz Parmesan, grated
2 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
1 tbsp chopped chervil
4 oz Taleggio (rind removed), cut into 3/8-inch slices

Assemble ingredients!

So a few omissions and substitutions to start: I could not find fresh tarragon or chervil for love or money, so they were omitted from the preparations. I also did not have truffle oil (it has been ordered but will not arrive for a while), so I used a bit of my black truffle salt. It gave a bit of nuance, but it was hard to balance adding enough to get the truffle flavour without over-salting the dish. For that reason alone I know I will make this again once the correct oil gets here, just to see what the difference is. I also couldn't find Taleggio, nor the white Castello that I read was the best substitute for it, so I opted to use some Camembert because I know I love it, I know it melts well, and it reminds me of being in France and hunting mushrooms. I figured those were reasons enough for its inclusion. Also, for this recipe I feel strongly that you must use fresh thyme and rosemary. Dried herbs just won't work here.

First step is prepping your mushrooms. I chose to cut all of mine into roughly bite sized pieces. I included the stems because they are exactly the same as the caps and why waste them?

Heat half of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add half the mushrooms and fry for a few moments without moving them around so that they cook and get some golden brown patches on their surfaces. Remove from the pan and repeat with the rest of the oil and mushrooms. Off heat, return all of the mushrooms to the pan and add the garlic (I finely diced mine), tarragon, thyme, truffle oil, and some salt and pepper. Keep warm and enjoy how awesome your kitchen smells. 

While the mushrooms are cooking, gather the butter, chop the rosemary, and grate the Parmesan and have ready.

Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan. Slowly pour the polenta into the boiling stock in a steady stream, whisking continually until it is all added so there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to minimum and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. The polenta is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan but is still runny - for instant polenta this will take roughly five minutes; with traditional polenta it could take up to 50 and require additional stock if it seems to dry out before it's ready. End goal of this stage is a thick, porridge consistency.

Preheat the broiler in your oven. When the polenta is ready, stir in the butter, rosemary, Parmesan, and half the chervil if using. Season with salt and pepper (I used the truffle salt here too, trying to bump up the flavour a bit more). Spread the polenta over a heatproof dish and top with the mushrooms. Top the mushrooms with the sliced cheese. I chose to leave the rind on my Camembert because it's edible and I enjoy it. I realize it effects the aesthetics, but I prefer not to waste food.

Place the pan under the broiler until the cheese melts and bubbles, just a moment or two. Remove from heat, garnish with the remaining chervil if using, and serve hot.

My thanks to Jennifer Echo who didn't mind that I started cooking and futzing around with my camera part way through our conversation, and who helped me make a dent in all this deliciousness. I am definitely going to make this again. Given how fast and delicious this is, it might become one of my default dinners, the kind you make when you are just too tired to cook. I would love to make this with Farmer's Market mushrooms, too... there's a stall at the downtown market back home, but I didn't notice one at the market here last year. I'll have to look again once the market resumes in Spring.