Mellow Mushrooms: Roasted Mushrooms with Cognac

I'm the kind of person that has random and various esoteric ingredients just laying around and waiting for that perfect recipe. One such example is Chardonnay salt.....But while digging around (yet again) in the cupboards, I found a little bottle of cognac and remembered that Jamie Oliver had roasted mushrooms with it. The rosemary, cognac, and truffle oil I added (instead of olive oil) made this mushroom dish very woodsy. I imagined these mushrooms would be great side to serve alongside lamb (if you make lamb) or on top of polenta with cheese.

I used all baby bellas and recipe was still good--next time, I will use a mixture of mushrooms. This is a ridiculously easy recipe & made the rest of my dinner pale in comparison. Note: Parchment paper is available in baking shops and also in the baking section of most grocery stores. In addition (or instead of rosemary), you can also use thyme and sage to flavour the mushrooms.


ROASTED MUSHROOMS WITH COGNAC

Adapted from Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver

Serves 4

• 1 pound of mixed mushrooms (cremini, oyster, shiitake), cleaned with larger mushrooms cut in half
• 4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (Truffle-flavored olive oil is awesome too!)
• 1-1/2 tsp. sea salt (or Chardonnay-flavored salt if you're weird like me)
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. cognac
• Freshly chopped parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine your mushrooms in a bowl and add the olive oil, making sure that the mushrooms are evenly coated. Add the salt, pepper and rosemary and mix well. I also added the cognac at this point (why wait?) and mixed all ingredients together.

Take one sheet of parchment paper (it should be roughly 18 x 22 inches in size) and place it on a counter. Pile the mushroom mixture in the centre of the parchment, flattening the mushrooms slightly so that they're not mounded too high in the centre. (Jamie says to drizzle on the cognac at this point.) Cover the mushrooms with another sheet of parchment of equal size.

Fold all the ends of the parchment up and in so that a tight seal forms on all sides. Slide the parchment package onto a baking sheet and then place in the oven. As you can see, I did not have enough parchment paper, so I folded it and put the seam side down on the pan. Worked fine.

Bake for 15 minutes. If you like your mushrooms a little more "done", place them back on the pan and bake for 5-10 more minutes, out of the parchment paper. I think the parchment seals in the flavor first.

Open the package (carefully as a lot of steam will be released). Taste the mushrooms and adjust seasoning.

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and sprinkle on the parsley before serving. Easy!!!!

Yes, they were delicious!