Cookbook:Duxelles (Minced Mushrooms with Herbs)

Duxelles is a French mushroom dish.

Ingredients

 * ½ pound fresh mushrooms or mushroom stems, minced
 * 1 small onion or 1–2 shallots, minced
 * 1–2 tablespoons butter
 * Salt
 * Ground black pepper
 * Chopped parsley to taste
 * 1 pinch tarragon or thyme (optional)

Procedure

 * 1) In a frying pan, sauté the onion in butter until soft but not brown (about 3–5 minutes).
 * 2) Stir in minced mushrooms, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and tarragon.
 * 3) Cook the mixture over medium high heat until the mushrooms give off a lot of liquid; that liquid will evaporate completely (about 5–10 minutes). The duxelles should look like a coarse mash.
 * 4) Cool the mixture slightly, and taste for seasoning.

Notes, tips, and variations

 * Depending on your main course, any fresh herb(s) or splash of soy sauce, white wine, Madeira, lemon juice, or even fruit, such as dried apricots, can be added.
 * Duxelles may be frozen for 1 to 2 months.
 * If you're using dried mushrooms, rinse them first as they are almost always holding grit and bits of the forest from which they grew; then soak them in very hot (but not boiling) water (add heated wine or fruit/vegetable juice if you want more flavor) until tender (10 to 20 minutes, depending on how large they are). Remove them from the water; rinse and again scrub them well with a mushroom brush. Pat the mushrooms dry and continue as for fresh mushrooms.
 * Sauce duxelles is made starting off with a basic duxelles recipe, and then adding white wine, stock, and tomato purée. This is served over fish, meat, or eggs.