How to cook mushrooms

Learning how to cook mushrooms can add a wide variety of dishes to your menu.

Perhaps the simplest method is sautéed mushrooms. Cooked in a frying pan in a small amount of olive oil, they are full of flavour.

Both the sauce at the bottom of this page and the mushroom paté start with sautéed mushrooms, and will serve 1 person with some left over for later.

Cheesy mushroom paté

No page covering how to cook mushrooms would be complete without a creamy mushroom paté. Great to keep in the fridge as a dip for other vegetables as well. Try it on a stick of celery!

• 4oz mushrooms
  
• 1 small onion
  
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
  
• 1/2 oz of butter
  
• a shake of Worcestershire sauce
  
• freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs (whizz a small slice of bread in your blender to create these)
  
• 2oz cream cheese (I like to use one with herbs added like Boursin)

This delicious pate is simple to make. Start by following the mushroom sauce recipe above until you reach the stage where you are about to add the liquid to the sauce. (marked with an * )

Cool the mushrooms slightly and then pop them into your blender along with the breadcrumbs and soft cheese. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and pop the lid on. Whizz the mixture until you get a paste. I like to leave a little texture in my pate, but you may want to blend it for a bit longer if you want yours really smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a small ramekin dish and place in the refrigerator to chill.

Serve with hot toast.

Mushroom sauce recipe

If you are having a steak for supper why not try a delicious mushroom sauce to go with it, and make it into something special.

• 4oz mushrooms (I use the open cap ones, stalks and all)
  
• 1 small onion
  
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
  
• 1/2 oz of butter
  
• a shake of Worcestershire sauce
  
• freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1/4 of a pint stock or white wine
  
• 1 teaspoon of tomato puree
  
• 1 tablespoon of cornflour
  
• a little cold water

Put the oil and butter in the frying pan and heat it up while you chop the onion. Then put the onions into the pan and cook gently, for about 5 minutes, until they are soft but have not gone brown. The reason we use both oil and butter is because butter by itself can burn.

While they are softening wipe the mushrooms with a paper towel, no need to wash them, and then slice. Add the mushrooms to the onions in the frying pan, and continue to cook until all the fat has been absorbed. The mushrooms will, at first, let off some moisture of their own, which will then be absorbed or evaporated. Cooking them slowly will allow the flavour to develop. *

Pour the white wine or stock into the frying pan. Stir in the tomato puree and turn the heat up to bring the pan to the boil, then turn the heat down.

In a small bowl or cup mix the cornflour to a thin paste with the cold water, and then pour into the pan.

Simmer (cook on a gentle heat) for a few minutes, until the sauce has thickened, then serve.