Don't Crowd Your Mushrooms

So remember how in Julie and Julia she says that it is really important not to crowd your mushrooms? Well, Mz. Child is right.

I was making dinner with Sara last night and she decided that she wanted to make this heart-stopping steak dish. You are going to love this: You take about 6 tablespoons of butter and sautee garlic in it. While the garlic is being sauteed you sear the steaks. Then you pour the garlicky butter all over the steaks and put them in the oven until they are cooked to preferred done-ness.

What is the best compliment to buttery, garlicky steaks? Mushrooms of course.

I bought crimini mushrooms at the little corner store beside Sara's apartment and couldn't help feeling a little like I was in the movie. I have learned that you are not supposed to get mushrooms wet so I brushed off the caps, removed the stems, and sliced the mushrooms rather thickly. Then I plopped about a tablespoon of butter into a pan. The pan was on high heat and when the butter started to foam I dropped the mushrooms in, giving them plenty of room. In a few minutes they were a roasty, toasty brown color. To add to their deliciousness I poured in a little red wine. When you don't crowd your mushrooms, the taste doesn't change all that much but the texture, the mouth-feel if you will, is so much better. They are chewy and juicy and more essentially mushroom-y than mushrooms that have been crowded into a pan and forced to touch their neighbors.

Anyway, just in case you were wondering whether it was a bunch of hooey I thought I would let you know that it's not.