Porcini Butter Recipes

Steps:

• In a small bowl combine porcinis and broth; let stand 30 minutes.
• Drain mushrooms, reserving broth, and place in food processor.
• Strain broth and reduce over medium heat to 3 - 4 tablespoons.
• Add broth to food processor and process to puree.
• Add butter and process to blend.
• Transfer to serving dish and use as a topping.
• Store in refrigerator.

Steps:

• Finely chop garlic. In a small bowl soak porcini in boiling-hot water 20 minutes. Remove porcini, squeezing out excess liquid, and reserve soaking liquid. Rinse porcini to remove any grit and finely chop. Line a sieve set over a small saucepan with a dampened paper towel and pour reserved soaking liquid through it. Add porcini and garlic to saucepan and simmer mixture until liquid is reduced to about 1 tablespoon, about 3 minutes. Cool mixture.
• In a bowl with a fork mash together butter, porcini mixture, and salt and pepper to taste until combined well. Transfer butter to a sheet of wax paper and roll into a 6-inch log. Butter may be kept, covered and chilled, 2 days or frozen, wrapped in foil, 1 month. Bring butter to room temperature before using.
• Variations:
• Here are a few compound butters we find particularly versatile. Using the basic technique of mashing together butter and flavoring in the recipe above, and with a little imagination, you can create your own favorites.
• • Beurre maître d'hôtel: 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves
• • Truffle butter: 1 small black winter truffle or 2 small black summer truffles, chopped fine
• • Roquefort butter: 3 tablespoons crumbled Roquefort (only 1/2 stick butter needed for this variation)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Combine the salt, porcini powder, brown sugar, garlic powder and cayenne in a bowl. Use your fingers to make sure the ingredients are evenly distributed. Rub the steaks generously with the rub. Let sit for a few minutes.
• Heat a saute pan or cast-iron skillet over high heat until very hot.
• Lightly oil the steaks. Working in batches, place one of the steaks in the skillet and get a good sear on both sides, 6 to 7 minutes per side. Add the garlic, 2 sprigs thyme and 2 tablespoons butter to the pan and use a spoon to baste the steak with the butter. Remove the steak to a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining steak, thyme and butter.
• Add the garlic to the rack with the steaks and roast until the steaks reach the desired doneness, 10 to 15 minutes for medium rare. Let rest in a warm spot for 7 to 8 minutes. Slice on the bias and serve with the roasted garlic.

Steps:

• Position an oven rack in the lowest position (remove the other racks); preheat to 350 degrees F. Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey and set aside for the gravy. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels and rub inside and out with 1 tablespoon each salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the onion, smashed garlic and rosemary sprigs. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Put the turkey on a rack set in a large roasting pan and tuck the wings under the body. Let sit at room temperature while you make the porcini butter.
• Soak the porcini in 1 cup hot water until softened, about 10 minutes; drain. Put half of the porcini in a food processor (finely chop the rest to use in the gravy). Add the whole garlic cloves and chopped rosemary to the food processor; pulse to make a paste. Add the butter, Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons salt and a generous amount of pepper; pulse until smooth. Rub the turkey inside and out with the butter. Transfer to the oven and roast 1 hour. Meanwhile, start your gravy, adding the chopped porcini in along with the stock.
• After the turkey has roasted 1 hour, baste with the drippings. Continue roasting, basting every 30 minutes, until the skin is golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F, 1 1/2 to 2 more hours.
• Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes before carving; use the drippings for the gravy.

Steps:

• Tagliatelle: Mound flour on a clean work surface or in a large bowl. Make a well in center. Add egg, yolks, oil, and warm water to well. Using a fork and stirring outward from center, gradually incorporate flour into egg mixture until a ragged dough forms.
• Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes. (Or combine ingredients in a mixer bowl and knead with the dough-hook attachment 8 to 10 minutes.) Tightly cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until soft and pliable, at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
• Cut dough into 4 portions. Keeping remaining portions covered with plastic, shape one into a rectangle. With a pasta roller on its largest setting (1 on a KitchenAid stand-mixer attachment), run dough through roller. Fold dough in half and run through largest setting again. Repeat once or twice more. Turn machine to next setting and pass through roller once.
• Continue passing dough through, lowering setting each time, until dough has run through the smallest setting (8 on KitchenAid attachment). Transfer to a tray generously dusted with semolina (or all-purpose) flour; dust top with more. Repeat process with remaining portions of dough.
• Attach a tagliatelle/fettuccine cutter to a pasta machine. Roll each sheet through cutter. Hang in a single layer on a pasta rack or transfer to a tray dusted with semolina and let dry, 30 minutes. (Pasta can be made up to 1 day ahead: Once dry, loosely twirl handfuls of pasta into 6 "nests," generously dust with more semolina, and refrigerate in a single layer in an airtight container.)
• Porcini Butter Sauce: Heat a large straight-sided skillet over medium. Add oil, butter, and garlic. When butter melts and garlic sizzles, add mushrooms; season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are tender and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Add pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds more.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of generously salted boiling water until al dente,2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain. Add 2/3 cup pasta water to skillet with mushrooms. Bring to a simmer. Add tagliatelle, tossing until sauce thickens slightly and evenly coats pasta, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
• Add parsley and half of cheese, tossing to combine. Add more pasta water as needed, a little at a time, until sauce evenly clings to pasta again. Serve topped with remaining cheese, pepper flakes, and a drizzle of oil.

Steps:

• Mix first 4 ingredients in small bowl for herb butter. Season butter to taste with salt and pepper. Process dried porcini mushrooms in spice grinder to fine powder. Transfer powder to plate. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Press steaks into porcini powder to coat both sides well.
• Melt 2 tablespoons herb butter in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add steaks to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer steaks to plates. Spoon rounded tablespoon of herb butter atop each steak and serve.

Steps:

• The night before, prepare the peppercorns for the sauce. Put the green peppercorns and vinegar in a small bowl, cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
• The next day, pat the beef dry with kitchen paper, cover loosely, and leave for 1 hr at room temperature - this helps to ensure perfectly cooked meat later. Put the dried porcini mushrooms and black peppercorns in a small blender or spice grinder, and blitz to a powder. Mash with the butter and set aside.
• Heat the oven to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Season the sirloin all over with the sea salt. Heat the oil in a flameproof roasting tin or large frying pan over a high heat, and sear the beef, fat-side down, for 5-8 mins until some of the fat has rendered out and turned golden brown, then holding the beef with tongs, sear it on all sides for 2-3 mins until browned all over. Sit the browned beef in the roasting tin fat-side up and spoon out most of the fat (if you have rendered it in the tin). Spoon 2 tbsp of the rendered fat over the beef and reserve any leftover fat for making yorkshires. Arrange the shallots around the beef, turning to coat them in the fat.
• Roast for 20 mins, then dot the porcini butter all over the beef and reduce the heat to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Roast for another 40-50 mins for rare to medium-rare, or 1 hr for medium-well. If you have a meat thermometer, it should read 55C for medium-rare, or 65C for well done. Baste the meat in the butter from the tin, then transfer to a warm platter or board with the shallots. Cover and leave to rest for 20 mins.
• To make the sauce, discard all but 4 tbsp fat from the tin and set the tin over a low heat (or transfer to a pan), and fry the chopped shallots for 6-8 mins until softened and translucent. Strain the pickled peppercorns, reserving the vinegar, and add to the pan along with the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 mins until reduced by about half, then whisk in the cream. Taste for seasoning, and add the reserved vinegar, 1 tsp at a time, to balance the acidity and creaminess (we used about 5 tsp). Simmer for another 5-6 mins until the sauce has thickened. Pour into a jug. Carve the beef and serve with the roasted shallots and sauce.

Steps:

• Soak mushrooms in water for 15 minutes. Remove them and squeeze excess water from them. Reserve liquid. Rinse mushrooms to remove any grit and chop finely. Strain liquid through a very fine sieve.
• In a saucepan simmer liquid, mushrooms, garlic and thyme till reduced to 1 tablespoon of liquid. Cool mixture.
• Mash the cooled mixture with the butter and season with salt and pepper.
• Place mixture in a freezer zip lock storage bag making a log inside of bag. Squeezing all air out. Can be frozen up to 1 month. Just take a slice when needed.

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler. Grind dried porcini in a spice grinder, producing about 1/2 cup of powder. The excess will keep for about a year in a jar. Or buy porcini powder online or at some food shops.
• In small bowl, combine the butter and 4 tablespoons of porcini powder. Add salt to taste.
• Slice the baguettes into very thin slices. Place on a sheet pan and toast until golden brown on both sides.
• Spread about 1 teaspoon of porcini butter on the baguette slices. Add a good pinch of truffles, and sprinkle with minced parsley if you like and a few grinds of pepper.
• Spread about 1 teaspoon of butter on the baguette slices. Add a good pinch of truffles, and sprinkle with minced parsley and a few grinds of pepper if you like.