Mushroom Ragout

Mushroom Ragout
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
55 minutes
Rating
4(321)
Notes
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Nigella Lawson brought this recipe to The Times in a 2006 article about vegetarian comfort food.

"The mushrooms, which are easy to cook, require a certain amount of patience and trust. Once you tumble your huge pile of prepared mushrooms into the pan, you could quite reasonably believe they will never cook down, never lose their bouncy rawness and could go on absorbing oil forever. Just start by moving them around gingerly in the pan and then, when they have all had their turn in the heat, clamp on a lid and let them give off their bosky juices."

Serve with Ms. Lawson's Spiced and Herbed Millet (as shown) or rice.

Featured in: Sweet Potato Curry And Mushroom Ragout? That's Comfort

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings
  • 1ounce dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2pounds mixed fresh mushrooms (like button, cremini, chanterelle, oyster)
  • ¼cup olive oil
  • 1onion, finely chopped
  • 3garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1teaspoon celery salt
  • 2tablespoons flour
  • ¼cup Amontillado or cream sherry
  • Finely grated zest of half a lemon
  • 2tablespoons chopped parsley
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

158 calories; 10 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 11 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Soak porcini in 1½ cups boiling water until softened, at least 20 minutes. Pick over fresh mushrooms, tearing or slicing bigger ones as needed.

  2. Step 2

    Place a large sauté pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté until softened. Stir in cumin and celery salt. Drain porcini, reserving liquid, and add to pan, stirring for 1 to 2 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Add fresh mushrooms and turn in pan until they begin to soften. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Stir in flour, followed by porcini soaking liquid and sherry. Cover and simmer until mushrooms are cooked through but retain a meaty bite, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a warmed platter, and sprinkle with a mixture of lemon zest and parsley. Serve with millet (as shown) or rice.

Ratings

4 out of 5
321 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Like Lisa Conn, I skipped the cumin and used thyme instead. I served it on polenta with parmesan cheese and it was delicious. I will definitely make this again.

Zelda, any dry sherry will do. You could also use vermouth or a dry Marsala. Avoid sweet wines.

what can I use instead of Amontillado or sherry?

Very simple to make - just allow enough time to let mushrooms simmer. I added a bit of Worcestershire sauce to cut the sweetness. Highly recommended for a chilly evening like this June 1.

This is delicious. It needed a little more sauce, next time I'd increase the water on the porcini mushrooms and add a little more creme sherry. Loved the lemon zest/parsley garnish. Recipe made enough for 8-10 servings. Served it with brown rice.

Scrumptious. I had the dried mushrooms and only about 1/2 pound of beautiful fresh mushrooms from the farmers' market. That made plenty. I made the mushrooms in a large enamel skilled and before serving moved them around the sides of the pan. In the middle I added cooked couscous and put the garnish over all. In the winter I would use a hardy grain, maybe kasha or millet, or barley. The flavors and texture of this dish are wonderful. Highly recommended.

Loved this! So flavourful and hearty. I served this over Isreali couscous. The parsley/lemon gremolata is the perfect finishing touch. Might add some toasted pine nuts to the mixture next time for some crunch.

A good substitute: saute a small stalk of minced celery with the onion and use plain salt instead. I haven't bought celery salt since 1966.

That's millet (and I've updated the recipe to reflect that), but couscous or rice would be equally delicious. Enjoy!

Combined with Martha Shulman recipe.

The cumin overpowered this recipe. Recommend reducing by half.

I used 1,5 tsp cumin, a mix of pearl onions and shallots and added 1/4 cup of (cream) sherry just before serving. Served it with pan fried bulgur with a small very thinly sliced leek, fresh tarragon, Italian parsley and home smoked garlic paste.

I like the general simplicity of this recipe, but it seemed *so* bland to me. Thanks to the other commenters about options to up the flavor/complexity a bit. Will definitely try again!

-skipped the cumin and used thyme instead. I served it on polenta with parmesan cheese and it was delicious. I will definitely make this again. -any dry sherry will do. You could also use vermouth or a dry Marsala. Avoid sweet wines -I added a bit of Worcestershire sauce to cut the sweetness.

I used polenta; I added 3/4 C cheese to 1 C polenta w 3-4 C liquid; excellent mushroom main course

If you like mushrooms, this is great. I served with Parmesan risotto which was a nice accompaniment. I used red wine, plus a splash of red wine vinegar, because I didn’t have sherry and didn’t want to buy some just for this and it was still great. I also simmered for at least twice the recommended time, uncovered for the second half, mainly because I underestimated how low the risotto would take, but I actually liked the result because the mushrooms were less soupy

I love this recipe but always add a couple tweaks for more depth of flavor. I mostly just use portobello and white mushrooms. Instead of celery salt, I coarse shred up a few small stalks of celery. And add a few tablespoons of butter for a hint of richness.

This was really delicious. You end up with a lot of ragout, I served it over risotto for two different dinner parties. With what was left after that I tossed in spaghetti with lemon, thyme and Parmesan. It was an easy recipe I made it exactly as proposed, however no dried porcini mushrooms were available so I used a mix of dried chanterelle and shiitake, still turned out great but I would use porcini if I could find it. Amontillado sherry was great both in the ragout and served after dinner.

Good. Next time use less flour. Did not have dried porcini and would have been better with them. Added a lot more spice including some Urfa chili. Served on spaghetti squash which we had on hand. Nice, but would probably been better on a grain.

I've cooked NY Times recipes and Nigella's many times. This was awful. The cumin had no business with the sherry and the mushrooms. There was no seasoning to speak of. It needed so much finessing that I could have skipped the whole thing and started fresh. Not pleased.

What is celery salt? I don’t see it in many recipes and don’t want to buy just for this,which looks delicious. Can someone suggest an alternative?

A good substitute: saute a small stalk of minced celery with the onion and use plain salt instead. I haven't bought celery salt since 1966.

Very tasty - didn't have sherry, so substituted in red wine + red wine vinegar. Also sweated some celery before cooking the rest of it (used instead of onion). All turned out well.

A similar recipe I've made for years calls for a tablespoon of tomato paste stirred in w/ the liquid. This may take care of the "blandness" issue for some.

kind of bland. i too used polenta - i don't think this was the problem. this recipe is just lacking something.

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