Lemon, Cream and Garlic Mushrooms
I have a trademark recipe, it seems… it’s a dish I’ve often cooked for friends when I’ve entertained or ended up cooking at their place when I’ve been invited for dinner, a braai, etc.
It started off more as an experiment in flavours and aromas and turned into something that people are eating out of the pot before I can get it to the table.
The best thing, is that it is very simple to make, but be warned, it is very rich!
I work per punnet (400g or so) of mushrooms so if you want to make more, just multiply the amount per punnet used.
250ml fresh cream
75-100ml lemon juice
lemon pepper
crushed garlic (to taste – some like a lot, some don’t)
punnet of button mushrooms, chopped into chunks, or thick slices
Pour cream into suitable non-stick pot (I used cast iron on gas most of the time though) and bring to the boil. Add remain ingredients in no particular order. Reduce heat and stir frequently. Take care not to let the cream seperate. You can taste the cream now and then, adding more lemon juice, lemon pepper or garlic as needed. I generally make mine quite lemony but it’s up to you.
As a note, you can also put the garlic in first, with the lemon juice and lemon pepper and ‘fry’ the garlic up a bit to kickstart the aroma. Just don’t scorch it. Add mushrooms into that mix, then the cream over it. Either way works fine, in my experiments.
Let the mix cook and reduce (the mushrooms shrink a lot as they lose their water) and you should end up with a relatively thick-ish cream, grey-ish in colour. Serve hot on fresh garlic bread, over meat, rice, etc or as a dip.
A variation of the recipe I sometimes use is to add some soy sauce and cayenne pepper instead of lemon pepper.
For those that don’t like cream, take the same idea as above and cook the mushrooms in your choice of chutney, tomato paste, etc. If I do that variation, I tend to make it more spicy (more cayenne pepper, etc) instead of lemony.
As a last note, this mix keeps rather well and is ok to reheat and use for a few days afterward. So go big and make a lot…
