Sautéed Mushrooms is definitely not one of those dishes that require a high amount of cooking skill to achieve. It’s one of those dishes that require minimum effort to achieve maximum flavour.

I personally love the simplicity of this (less than 5 ingredients) and the fact that it takes little to no time to cook and is so versatile in how you can eat it.

I called this dish Sautéed Mushrooms because it really is just that. I absolutely loathe when people give over fanciful names to simple dishes. This one would have been called ‘Field Mushroom Medley’ if it wasn’t for me…. Anyway!

I like to eat my Sautéed Mushrooms over a bit of toast with a poached egg for breakfast or in an afternoon snack with an added grilled sausage or bacon strips.

For dinner, these are great with mashed potato or even as a side dish to rice – I can eat it just like that.

It’s such a simple thing to make.

All you will need for one serve (and two if you aren’t greedy):

A variety of mushrooms – about 250-300 grams worth. Today I had in hand some Button, Oyster & Enoki mushrooms.

50-100 grams of butter (depending how healthy you want to feel after)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Another knob of butter (whatever size you like) to ‘finish it off’

A good pinch of salt flakes

Chives (optional – however much you want – chop them early or snip them in near the end)

Method:

– Brush all dirt off the mushrooms. For Enoki – you will need to remove the bottom ‘clump’ which more often than not has the growing medium still attached. Do not wash mushrooms in water or they will absorb it and you will end up with a mushroom stew… sort of..

– Depending on how you feel, you can either chop the mushrooms up nicely or tear they with your hands – I prefer the latter.

– Heat up a heavy based frying pan with the butter and oil on a medium to high heat.

– Add the mushrooms all at once and let it cook through. Stir occasionally until the mushrooms have yielded to the heat and started to soften.

– When the mushrooms start to release SOME juice (there wont be much if you haven’t washed them in water!), add the salt and stir through. This juice will help the salt dissolve and spread evenly through.

– As the mushrooms cook in the pan, stir them less frequently to allow bits here and there to sear. You will know when they are searing as they will smell different and delicious and there will be less steam coming from the pan surface.

– Give the mushrooms a quick stir to see if the searing has started. You will notice that they take on a lovely caramel colour. If they have started to sear then the process of searing the rest will be quite rapid as it means the moisture level in the pan has dropped to such a point allowing it to do so.

– What I do now is leave the mushrooms in the pan for a minute without stirring. After a minute, toss quickly and leave again for another minute. Repeat this until you get good colour on the mushrooms – it takes about three rounds to get a good, even sear.

– Finally, before you turn off the heat, snip in your chives (or sprinkle them on if you have cut them up already).

– Turn the heat off and drop in the last bit of butter. Stir it through as it melts. It will make the mushrooms nice and glossy.

– Finally. decant on to a plate and serve.

Eat however you like and enjoy the beautiful flavour of Sautéed Mushrooms.