Mushroom Tapenade
Calling all mushroom lovers!
Mushrooms are funny things. People either love them or hate them. (in my experience). My mother loves them, my father will pick them out of any dish that he can. To say he hates mushrooms would b to say that Elmer Fudd hates Wascally Wabbits. Years ago, my mother had a friend of a friend who asked permission to come over to our back yard and forage some mushrooms from there and the nearby woods(obviously he didn’t need permission for the woods, just access to them through our backyard. ) In appreciation, he left us with a bag of mushroom.
My mother, who loves specifically white button mushrooms and had as much interest in cooking and exploring new tastes as much as I have in climbing Mount Everest (which is to say less than none, not even for a Willly Wonka Bar with a golden ticket guaranteed at the top), took the bag like it contained radioactive material. My father, convinced that we would all drop dead just by having these poisonous fungi even sitting on the kitchen counter had that bag of mushrooms back in the woods before the guy was even out of our driveway. I do not come from adventurous people cuisine-wise (meanwhile, at 72 my mother went skydiving. Go figure).
All of this is to say that when it comes to mushrooms, we are a simple group of people. We are basic white button mushroom people from a bygone era and small(ish) town where to the best of our knowledge, a lion’s mane was the hair surrounding a lion’s face, oyster meant something in a shell from the sea and portobello was not a “thing”.
So this recipe is dedicated to my mom and her love of white button mushrooms. Although to be honest, I’m pretty sure she would say I ruined a perfectly good mushroom by adding the garlic, thyme and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
- 1 (8oz) package of white button mushrooms
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 Tablespoon of fresh chopped)
- 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- pinch of salt
Directions:
- Finely chop or pulse the mushrooms in a processor.a2qa
- Saute the mushrooms in a poi over medium heat in the olive oil and thyme until the mushrooms release their juices. When the juice is almost completely cooked off, add the lemon juice, and garlic and saute about 1 minute more till the mushroom absorb the lemon juice and and the garlic is fragrant. Stir continuously at this point so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the pinch of salt, stir well and remove from the pan to a dish to cool down.
- Store, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Serve with breadsticks, crackers or toasted baguette slices.
Enjoy!
