Ashley Christensen from Raleigh, North Carolina, and owner of Poole’s Diner recently came to the farm to cook for an event that I had and shared her delicious saut&eacut;ed mushroom recipe with us.

Matsutake mushrooms are considered to be a signature mushroom of fall. They’re also known as pine mushrooms. They’ve got a really pretty dense texture and really earthy aroma and also some sweet notes of cinnamon.

Ingredients

  • Matsutake mushrooms
  • Canola oil
  • Salt
  • Fresh thyme
  • Butter

Instructions

  1. Heat a cast iron saut&eacut; pan over a medium to high heat. Add a little bit of Canola oil. Canola oil has a higher smoking point, and when cooking mushrooms, you want to create a nice sear, which requires pretty high heat.
  2. Line the bottom of the pan with the mushrooms. Don't crowd them. You want to give them space so they will sear rather than sweat, which produces liquid.
  3. Cook the mushrooms for about 1 minute on both sides then season with salt. It's important to wait until the searing is done to add the salt because salt extracts moisture out of the mushroom drawing water into the pan and preventing a really nice sear.
  4. Now set a few sprigs of thyme in the pan with the mushrooms and let them infuse into the oil, which will flavor the mushrooms without overpowering. Keep an eye on the thyme and just make sure that it's not getting too dark.
  5. Now add a tablespoon or so of butter and turn off the heat. Stir the mushrooms to coat and serve.