I absolutely love all things mushrooms, particularly exploring all the edible varieties I can find and trying them! Thing is, I live in the city and am the only one in my house who eats mushrooms (no one else likes having them in the house, let alone on a plate!) so I was wondering if anyone had any advice for 1) where to find a variety of mushrooms (I mostly see Portobello and cremini) and 2) any good ways to cook or prepare mushrooms for just one person? I typically just fry them up in a skillet or add them into a stir fry after I’ve made everyone else’s plates.
I hope this doesn’t break any rules! I couldn’t find anything on the side bar about what types of posts are allowed. If it does, could someone be kind enough to point me to another place to post this?
Either buy them in an asian super market or grow them on your own. (Photo below).
How to prepare: add them to your skillet, put a splash of how water in it and put the lid on. Cook them for a few minutes, then lid off, and some (I prefer A LOT) of butter and spices. Sometimes, depending on the kind of mushroom, only salt and pepper (high quality ones), sometimes onions or garlic, whatever you want.
Prepared dish (Pheonix oysters)
The same Pheonix oysters I grew
Brown Shimeji on my balcony in a tub (cloned from the asian market)
Lions Mane I grew
Oyster mushrooms in a big bag on my balcony
Beautiful mushrooms, need inspiration to pick this activity up again.
Unethical pro-tip here…but I speak from experience. Cook delicious food, let your family enjoy it, and don’t even tell them it had mushrooms in it. Dice them up pretty small, cook them in a dry pan on medium heat stirring occasionally until they release their water and it mostly evaporates. Add a chunk of butter to the pan, then chopped onion, and let the onions cook down. From there add garlic and any combination of chopped carrots, peppers, squash, potatoes, fennel, bacon, or anthing else you want/have. Add a bit of butter or a bit of water every now and then so it doesn’t get dry while cooking. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, or whatever you prefer (coriander, sage, and allspice are my go-tos). Serve it over some pasta.
By the end of this, the mushrooms will be visibly imperceptible but will still take you to flavortown. My family used to be anti-mushroom too, until I repeatedly fed them mushrooms and they loved them every time.
As far as accessing a wider variety of mushrooms, I’m fortunate to have a grocery store with a big selection. Fresh oyster or lion’s mane cooked just like above are absolutely delicious but a bit pricey. You can more easily find dried mushrooms, even online, which you just rehydrate briefly before you use them.
The last option is to grow your own. Both lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms (and others) are insanely easy to grow, just search for whatever variety “mushroom block” and have one delivered. I cut some vent holes in a clear plastic tub, turned it upside down and set the block inside. It stays humid enough with an occasional spray of water and I had several large flushes of lion’s mane
Oh! Dehydrated mushrooms rehydrate and cook like normal? I use dehydrated mushrooms for soup stocks often in the winter, I had no idea I could cook them! What a waste! I do manage to sneak in mushrooms here and there, but I could eat just like a whole pan of mushrooms all on my own! Always makes me a little sad to hide them away.
Regarding growing mushrooms, how do you prevent other unwelcome guests? I’m in the PNW so mold is a big concern
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This looks delicious!! I love wood ear mushrooms so much, thanks for the recipe!
