Recipe: Marinated Mushrooms

I found this recipe in Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook, which jumped out at me from the shelves at the library as the lone non-Christmas book on the "Christmas" themed book shelf. This cookbook was like a light turning on for me for some reason. All of these amazing recipes in one (big) book! How could I have not known about the wonders of Jewish Holiday Cooking (well, I had an idea, but I didn't really know)? I quickly took on a few favourite recipes and cooked them for the Hanukkah feast we had, but a few of them really stuck (like the vegetarian chopped liver with eggplant OMG).

I like this one the best because it's easy peasy, never something I would have considered making myself (!), it's cheap for entertaining, and is just SO delicious! And, it has one of my favourite foods: mushrooms. I altered the recipe to include dry herbs because really who has access to fresh herbs cheap in the off season, and made it a bit spicier. I also double the mushrooms and reduce the marinade. Less oil = good times.

XO






Marinated Mushrooms
adapted from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook (pg. 61)

Ingredients

2 lbs of fresh button mushrooms
1 small yellow onion, peeled and sliced into paper thin rings
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup salad oil (I used canola)
1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon prepared HOTT mustard (I got ours at a european deli!)
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground cumin (though cumin seed would be yummy too!)
three pinches of salt
shake of pepper

How To:

1. Put 1" of water in a large pot (one that you have the lid for) and turn on MAX. Wash and trim the stems of your mushrooms. Once washed place in your pot and cover. Let cook for 1 minute once water is boiling. Drain water and place mushrooms in a crock, casserole dish, or glass bowl (preferably one with a lid to reduce the onion stink into your fridge).

2. Lower heat to medium-low. Using the same pot combine the onions, vinegar, oil, sugar, mustard, basil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about three minutes. (I found the mustard got this specific smell like burning hot stuff, ha, that triggered me to pull it off the stove. It took me 3 minutes simmering to get there).

3. Cover the mushrooms in the marinade and stir to evenly coat. Place bowl/crock/whatever covered in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Joan Nathan says to serve with toothpicks, but I put a huge serving spoon in mine and encouraged peeps to eat them like candy :)