My mushrooms with black garlic sauce and sweet pea tendrils is inspired by chef Andy Meyer. We enjoyed this while dining at Decade, his restaurant in the Butchertown neighborhood of old Louisville. The deeply earthy, pungent flavor of black garlic was impossible to forget and left me wanting more.
The dish requires several ingredients that are difficult to come by in my sleepy village. There are no king trumpet mushrooms nor pea tendrils available at local groceries. Even the black garlic must be mail-ordered and shipped from afar.
Thankfully two local independent producers, Stoned Epicureans and Blue Moon Mushroom Farm agreed to step up. Within a couple months they each grew their first crops and now successfully sell them to the better restaurants in the region. That enabled me to re-create the most authentic dish possible – without Andy’s recipe.
That segues into a pet peeve about recipes, cooks and chefs in general. There are many chefs that won’t share a recipe. I always wonder why. Do they think their restaurant will close because they shared a technically difficult, time-consuming, ingredient scarce recipe? I have always seen it as an opportunity for free advertising and relationship building. Many of my favorite restaurants post their best recipes on a website, because they know the vast majority of customers won’t go to the trouble to make it themselves. It’s too easy to just go there for dinner and have it effortlessly placed before them.
Rant over, we can move on to more important things like…
Making Mushrooms with Black Garlic Sauce
Blend the ingredients until you have a smooth, creamy milk-chocolate sauce.
Clean and slice the mushrooms. You may use all king trumpets, or mix blue oyster mushrooms with them. If neither are available to you, use large cremini mushrooms.
Saute them in buttter and olive oil until golden brown, then keep warm until all the mushrooms are ready.
Warm the garlic sauce, then plate and spread it on a warm platter.
Spread the mushrooms over the sauce and garnish with pea tendrils, microgreens or fresh parsley and walnuts. Print
Mushrooms with Black Garlic Sauce
King Trumpet Mushrooms with Black Garlic Sauce and Sweet Pea Tendrils
Ingredients
Black Garlic Sauce
- 1/3 cup dry vermouth
- 3 TBL white miso
- 3 black garlic cloves – peeled
- 2 TBL sesame oil
- 2 TBL Dijon mustard
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 tsp micro-planed ginger
- 1–1/2 tsp rice vinegar
Mushrooms with Black Garlic Sauce
- 1 lb king trumpet mushrooms – sliced lengthwise into 1/8th to 1/4 inch planks
- 2 TBL olive oil
- 2 TBL unsalted butter
- Sea salt – to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper – to taste
- 1/3 cup walnut halves – garnish
- 1 TBL grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese – garnish
- Fresh sweet pea tendrils – garnish
Instructions
Make the Black Garlic Sauce
- Blend the vermouth, miso, black garlic, sesame oil, mustard, cream, ginger and rice vinegar until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Blend on high for 5-10 seconds to incorporate the black garlic thoroughly, then use a spatula to scrape down the sides. Repeat two additional times until you have a nice milk-chocolate brown sauce
- Taste and adjust the rice vinegar if you wish it to be more tart 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate up to a week
Finish Mushrooms with Black Garlic Sauce
- Pre-heat the oven to 200. Warm a serving platter in the oven or microwave
- Clean and prep the mushrooms. Use a salad spinner to remove as much water after rinsing as possible, then let them rest 15-30 minutes before cooking
- Warm the garlic sauce in a small saucepan and keep warm on lowest heat. Stir occasionally
- Place half the butter and olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat until it is shimmering, then reduce the heat to medium low
- Place the mushrooms in the skillet in batches, spreading them out to avoid overcrowding and saute them for 3-4 minutes, then season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Turn and stir them sparingly and cook for another 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown
- Remove with a slotted spatula, place them on a small baking sheet and keep warm in the oven until you have cooked all the mushrooms
- Carefully remove the warm platter and prepare it for serving family style by spreading the garlic sauce on the bottom, then spread the mushrooms over the sauce
- Garnish with the cheese, sweet pea tendrils and walnuts
- Serve immediately