Published November 1, 2004.
Do marinated mushrooms have to be slimy, watery, and, well, pretty much inedible?
Today most marinated mushrooms have morphed into little more than white button mushrooms soaked in bottled Italian dressing for days on end. The result is slimy, rubbery, brown orbs--hardly the life of the party.
Marinated mushrooms should taste good. As a classic Italian antipasto, foraged wild mushrooms are potent with earthy flavor. Blended with the right combination of bright acidity, heady herbs, and the nap of a fine olive oil, each bite should pack a punch.
Cremini and white button mushrooms won points for flavor and ubiquity. Crowding the mushrooms in a 12-inch skillet generated, at first, an alarming amount of liquid; cranking up the heat, however, reduced the liquid down to a potent glaze with concentrated mushroom flavor. And if that wasn't good enough, the seven or so minutes that it took to reduce the liquid produced a tender yet al dente mushroom, with no slime in sight.
list of recipes
