There are dishes born of leftovers that become transcendant and cause one to ensure leftovers

[Stinky The Clown]

Tonight was a night with such a dish.

On Christmas Eve, one of our dishes was baked mushrooms. No big deal. Ordinary white button mushrooms and baby portobellos. Sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Basil, oregano and parsley, salt and pepper.

They give off a lot of liquid as they saute. I pour this off before I put them into a baking dish and add sherry.

I usually throw the liquid away but this time, for some reason, I didn't. I put it in a container and popped it into the fridge, not giving it another thought. There was maybe a cup of liquid. On Sunday, I was going through the leftovers and came upon it, actually forgetting at first what it was. So I tasted it. Wow! Very rich. I saved it, the Sunday dinner already having been planned.

I mulled over what to do with this unexpected dab of ingredient.

When in doubt, put it on macaroni.

I put the liquid in a small pot and heated it. I added some chopped up dried porcinis, maybe 3 T, dry.

In a saute pan I sweated some garlic and onion. In went the mushroom liquid, fresh parsley and oregano, and a splash of dry sherry. Sparkly added a secret ingredient - a balsamic reduction she got when she was last in Switzerland. Just a few drops.

This went on angel hair. A sprinkle of fresh herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Grated reggiano.

Wow.

For what its worth, while the sherry and balsamic reduction were nice, they may have been a little over the top and unctuous. I put them in the "optional" category. Maybe one or the other, but not both. Don't try to use unreduced balsamic; it will not do well in this at all.

[Duer 157099]

1. Mmmmmm. Bet it would have done well in a risotto too

:thumbsup:

[Stinky The Clown]

2. We do a mushroom risotto with very similar ingredients, and its wonderful.

This exceeded the risotto. I also think it would have been less with any shape other than angel hair.

[Callalily]

3. Sounds very tasty!

Sometimes our kitchen "experiments" become favorite classics, and I'm guessing your mushroom/pasta dish fits that category.

[Inchworm]

4. I love this idea

I've experimented a bit with different rendered fats. They usually end up being gravy on rices hehe

I rarely buy produce from the store so my sautee is usually just onion and garlic. Even that is enough to make anything fried in the same pan in the next day or so very, very yummy.

:thumbsup:

[lizerdbits]

5. I used liquid leftover from cooking a brisket

to make risotto. Boy that was good!