Need ASAP Mushroom Cream Sauce for Tortelloni!
Please help..I looked through the old posts, and didn't see anything that fit exactly what I'm looking for---have some nice spinach tortelloni stuffed with ricotta and would like to make a cream mushroom sauce for them..except when I google for recipes, I see some use half and half, some light cream, and others heavy cream. I plan on using just standard fresh mushrooms (not the exotic variety), and reggianno cheese, and fresh parsley and garlic..and should I use shallots? Please help with any preparation tips, and which is the best cream to use? Thanks!
janie
Jan 19, 2007 10:21PM
Janie, It's important to cook the mushrooms on high heat so they brown nicely. Low heat and they just steam cook. I'd place a little butter in a very hot pan, brown the mushrooms, turn the heat down, add chopped shallots and parsley. (Adding a little white wine would be nice here.) Cook until shallots begin to wilt and add "regular" cream. Keep your heat low and stir or the cream will overflow the pan. After about 5 minutes it should thicken to coat a spoon. Stir in reggiano and serve. (Salt and pepper to taste of course.)
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Heavy cream will work, and so will half and half or light--I usually use half and half because that's what I usually have on hand. (I'd add a little hot pepper to the mushrooms in the recipe above, but that's just me.)
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I'd go with Walters - except I would have to leave out the cheese (its just not my thing) and as far as cream goes, not sure what the difference is - I usually use whatever is at hand (sour cream or heavy cream usually)
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I love mushrooms and I until recently would always "saute" them on low and in bttter. Not the best way. Walters right,high heat make the mushroom taste so much better. Remove the mushrooms hold on the side, in a tad of butter, saute the shallot, garlic and add the wine, reduce it and then add your half and half or cream, a bit of butter and parmesean cheese with fresh parsley. Then add the mushrooms back into the saute pan right before serving. Pour the sauce over the pasta, toss, add a bit more of parmesean, & fresh cracked pepper, then fresh italian parsley to serve. Sort of a "mushroom alfredo".
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You don't need set rules. Different creams, butter, dabs of flour, possibly cheese, and so on can all be (carefully) combined in a mushroom cream sauce. Each combo just needs a bit of matching technique. Agree that the mushrooms initially on high heat is best.
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you are so right, so many ways to make them tasty.
They are versatile and can be done so many ways!
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I got an important tip from my sister when cooking mushrooms. As mentioned previously toss them into a "hot" pan in which you have melted butter and a bit of olive oil, give them a shake to coat with the oil, season and then LEAVE THEM ALONE, don't fuss over them shaking them every few seconds. Give them time to form a nice crust. You'll be surprised at how long you can ignore them. Another good shake after a few minutes and again let them be. Do not crowd the pan or they will steam/boil. It really does make a difference.
I would cook the mushrooms then remove, add butter, lemon juice and garlic, reduce, lower heat and stir in sour cream and lemon zest, add the mushrooms and toss this with the tortellini, parsley and cheese. I make this frequently and it is always a favorite.
Open a nice Pinot Grigio, have a slurp while cooking (and add a dash along with the lemon juice and garlic) - it always makes the meal more festive.
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Many great suggestions in the posts so far...what about adding toasted crushed walnuts? (to whichever recipe you choose)
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Thank you so much for all the suggestions...I tried Walters and Chef chicklet combination...I encountered a couple problems..I did get the pan hot and added a bit of butter, but as the mushrooms cooked, and there were 2 packages of them, into a large size Le Creuset enamel frying pan, they started to give off too much water, so they were not browning nicely..so, I drained the water out, and then continued to cook, and then started to carmelize and get nice a brown..then came next problem, which I feel has more to do with the stove(we just moved and this stove is electic glass top as opposed to my old gas stove)--it just cooks so fast, and when you are on high or anywhere from 7-hi, you don't have alot of time for error...so, as I removed the mushrooms and put them aside, in the space of less than a minute my pan started to burn in the center with nothing in it, I put some butter and a bit of wine hoping it would dissolve itself and the butter started to burn..so...I quickly took it off the flame put into cold water and cleaned it out with a paper towel to get the burn residue off (i know you're not supposed to do this, but I didn't have a choice)..anyway..started again with clean pan, put the pat of butter, and browned the garlic with the shallots, added some white wine, put some parsley, put some coarse black pepper, and lots of shavings of reggiano cheese, and then reduced it until there was no liquid, and then I added 1/2 pint of heavy cream, and another pat of butter, and cooked this on low about #4-5 for about 3 minutes, and then lowered to #2 for remainder, and yes, it had thickened nicely. I then added my cooked tortelloni, and tossed it, and then added some more fresh parsley. It came out very nice, except..I think I would add the hot pepper flakes suggested to me, and I also think I need to increase the cream to possibly double the amount, because there wasn't that much of a coating on the pasta...and tortelloni, and much bigger than tortellini...:)
Also..would remove entirely from heat quicker next time to avoid my overheating mistake. And certainly, the use of more exotic mushrooms would up the taste a notch...
Thank you for the great suggestions...
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janie, I have never have had them do that, I usually buy crimini mushrooms bulk when I make this dish, not prepackaged, and I probablly don't have but close to 3/4 of pound. I use a calphalon large opened faced skillet and cook on gas, med hi flame, keeping an eye as they brown and get a crunchy edge. I hope you have better luck next time!
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if you have time, make duxelles. you get a really intense mushroomy flavor that way, thereby lessening the amount of cream needed to make the sauce. personally, i'm not a huge fan of cream sauces, especially on something that is already filled with cheese. with the duxelles and some nice extra virgin, you'd just need a few tablespoons of cream.
i do like toasted nuts on this sort of thing too, for a little contrast, hazlenuts or pine nuts.
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For a creamy, mushroom-y sauce, think Fettucini Alfredo. Melt the butter per usual, saute the mushrooms in it, then add the cream, etc., and simmer until the cream has reduced and taken on a nice brown mushroom color and flavor. I've always used cheese with this because Alfredo sauce uses cheese, and consider it "Alfredo con funghi."
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