By Maggie Conklin
Mushroom Casserole
A few days ago I got a text from Peg Sanford with a photo of a ginormous mushroom growing in her yard. Now, I get these types of texts often and I usually tell them “don’t eat that one.” But my response this time was “I’m on my way!”
Peg and her dear husband John actually had two large and two smaller Maiitake (“Hen of the woods”) mushrooms in their yard. The larger ones were bigger than basketballs. I suspect that they are called that because they look like fluffed-up grey speckled hens sitting on the ground.
These are easily one of my favorite mushrooms to eat. They are firm but not chewy, and have a mild mushroomy taste. (Is mushroomy a word?)
I cut out the solid “stalks” from the bottom center of each mushroom mass and sliced them to put into my freeze dryer. A day later when it was done, I powdered it in my big fancy blender to use as mushroom stock.
The rest of the Maiitake mushroom got cleaned, chopped and made into
1) mushroom gravy,
2) mushroom soup, and
3) mushroom casserole.
Some of all three of these I pressure canned for mid-winter easy meals. I’ll share my casserole recipe with you here:
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tsp. each salt, thyme and sage
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 lbs. coarsely-chopped mushrooms (Peg and John gifted me 6 lbs.!)
Lots of black pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
4 large eggs
1 cup milk OR 4 oz. vanilla yogurt and 4 oz. water
Paprika for the top
Sautée onions and celery in oil with salt and herbs 5 minutes. Add cubed mushrooms and black pepper, stirring for another 5 minutes. Gradually stir in flour and continue to stir another 5 minutes.
By now the mushrooms should have shrunk quite a bit. If they haven’t it, might be they are rather dry. Place a tight lid on the pot and let it all steam for a few minutes until it has cooked down.
Grease bottom and sides of your casserole dish with butter. Spread mushrooms and vegetables into dish and sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs. Then sprinkle cheese on top.
Beat eggs and add milk OR yogurt and water. Beat more. Pour over entire casserole, then dust with paprika. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
We enjoyed it with our neighbors Herk and Christa Wise and got a thumbs-up from both of them.
Enjoy!